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^onsolatio 



COMPORT FOR THE AFFLICTED. 



Ireface anir Notes 



BY 



,<' 



V 
REV. P. H. GREENLEAF, M. A. 



(*/ 



" I have chosen thee, in the furnace of affliction.".... Isaiah, 43 : 10. 



BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE : 
JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 

M DCCC XLIX. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, 

By P. H. Greenleaf, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



BOSTON : 

THURSTON, TORRY AND COMPANY, 

31 Devonshire Street. 



AFFLICTION COMETH NOT FORTH FROM THE DUST, NEITHER 
DOTH TROUBLE SPRING OUT OF THE GROUND. THOUGH THE 
LORD CAUSE GRIEF, YET WILL HE HAVE COMPASSION ACCOR- 
DING TO THE MULTITUDE OF HIS MERCIES. IF YE ENDURE 
CHASTENING, GOD DEALETH WITH YOU, AS WITH SONS, FOR 
YOUR PROFIT, THAT YE MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF HIS HOLI- 
NESS. 



LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED ; YE BELIEVE 
IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME. 



PREFACE, 



The following pages are intended for the use 
of those, who are under the personal experience 
of the Divine discipline of sickness or sorrow. 
They contain such variety of practical and profit- 
able thoughts, as are adapted to the different 
aspects of trouble or trial ; and they are designed 
to form, in this manner, a Manual of Devotional 
Meditation, which should guide souls, darkened 
and distracted in the deep night of human suf- 
fering, to Him, " Who," in the soul-revealing 
light of his discovered presence, alone, " giveth 
songs in the night." 1 

It is not necessary to designate, specifically, 
the sources whence these thoughts were derived, 
since they are brought together to serve a pur- 

1 Job, XXXT. 10. 



VI PREFACE. 

pose, not perhaps designed by the writers them- 
selves ; and being selected without reference to 
theological opinions, the mind is thus deprived 
of a bias, which, even insensibly, a name might 
suggest. And hence, there are, besiege some 
original matter, alterations and additions, for 
which the undersigned is alone responsible. 
Other works there are in the same department 
of alleviation. Some, leading the mind to dis- 
sipate itself in the paths of poetry, indulge the 
"luxury of grief"; and some, pointing to a 
"more excellent way," do, indeed, comfort and 
solace, even while they seem to wound. But 
this work, containing, as the critical reader will 
perceive, the writings of Thomas-a-Kempis, 
Leighton, Taylor, Cecil, Wilberforce, Hall, 
Manning, and others, will be found to differ from 
those generally in use ; and it is hoped, will not 
on this account, prove of less practical applica- 
tion to the real sources of human pain. 

The work was originally prepared, by a most 
patient and suffering servant of Jesus Christ, 
during the hours of a long and wearisome sick- 



PREFACE. Vll 

ness ; and bears, upon its face, the imprint of a 
personal acquaintance with sorrow : an imprint, 
such as cannot be discerned but from experience 
of this process of heavenly discipline. It was 
introduced to the public after her death, by a 
clergyman of the Church of England, prefaced 
by a strong and hearty commendation, from the 
pen of one of the most eminent Prelates of that 
communion. And the rapidity with which it 
has passed through its several editions, is a suf- 
ficient guaranty of its entire adaptation to the 
case of ••all those, who, in this transitory life, 
are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any 
other adversity." The history of the endurance 
of hardness as •• good soldiers in Christ Jesus" 
is here combined with that profit of suffering, 
whereby our Heavenly Father would make his 
children •• partakers of his holiness.'' The out- 
lined process of pain is combined with sugges- 
tions of "the peaceable fruits of righteousness*' 
to be gathered by ••them, which are exercised 
thereby.'* And in these thoughts of Peace, it is 
hoped, there may be ministered strength to 



Vlll PREFACE. 

those, who bear the burden of the Lord, as well 
as key-notes for meditations in those intervals of 
stillness and silence, which form so large a por- 
tion of life in the sick-chamber. 

The person, whose patient hand traced the 
greater part of this volume, first for her own 
use, and afterward, as it has proved, for that of 
other sufferers, would have shrunk instinctively 
from the publicity thus given to the outline of 
her own thoughts, and the consequent attention 
attracted to the peculiarities of her own case. 
" Her heart," says one well able to judge, " was 
a well tuned instrument of most delicate touch, 
responding to every high and holy thought or 
desire. There was a dignity, and a purity, and 
a devotedness, and a heavenliness, in all her 
ways from her very childhood, — her sweet 
childhood, which seemed to mark her out, as 
one called to be a special witness for the Holy 
One against all kinds of pollution." How faith- 
fully she bore this witness, adds her biographer, 
they best know, whom her bright presence glad- 
dened most constantly. 



PREFACE. IX 

" Through that hour of great darkness, which 
in some degree overshadows all, when first the 
conscience apprehends the presence of a personal 
God, she passed early into the clear calm light 
of glad and holy service. God had given her a 
spirit, in which were habitually blended the most 
simple tenderness and the purest gaiety : she was 
the delight of all around her, — her husband, 
her family, her friends. ' I shall never forget, 5 
says the friend whose words are quoted above, 
1 the way in which she last took leave of me. 
Pure, earnest, loveable spirit, in a most fitting 
tabernacle ! 

" But she was thought worthy of a better por- 
tion than the best this world can give, and was 
early cast into the refining fires. 

" Her health, which had never been strong, 
failed wholly in 1836 : and from that time till 
her release, in 1843, her life was one scarcely 
intermitted sickness. All forms of this sharp 
but loving discipline were sent to her in turn. 
Weakness, weariness, exhaustion, pain, the ebb- 
ing of a scarcely-perceptible decay, and the sore 



X PREFACE. 

struggles of hardly-retiring life, — all in turn 
tried her faith, and, through God's abounding 
grace, perfected her patience. To these must 
be added the privations which belong to such a 
state of health, and which none could feel more 
acutely. The glad spirit which God had given 
her, delighted to pour forth its chastened gaiety 
in the sunshine hours of family and friendly in- 
tercourse. Few ever loved the beauties of na- 
ture with so pure and ardent an affection, or 
rejoiced more in free and open converse with 
the works of God in earth, and air, and sky, 
and, beyond all, perhaps, in ' the great and wide 
sea.' Yet from these, for lengthened periods, 
she was altogether withdrawn ; and with them 
from that assembling of the saints in prayer and 
praise, which was dearer to her by far than every 
glorious sight or sound in nature. 

" The last left to her of these external things 
was the sea-shore ; and often did she speak of 
God's great goodness in so long continuing to 
her this enjoyment. But the time came when 
this also was withheld : when the sick-room and 



PREFACE. XI 

the sick-bed, with their weariness and their pain, 
were, as far as outward things could reach, her 
only and unrelieved portion : when days of 
languor, succeeding restless nights, found and 
left her on the same couch of stillness and suf- 
fering." 

It is in the experience of the sick-chamber, 
and the secrecy of unobserved grief, that the 
most blessed results of human suffering are often 
obtained. " The heart knoweth its own bitter- 
ness," and there are sorrows as well as joys, 
"with which a stranger intermeddleth not." 
But it is here, that God's great goodness is often 
most signally manifest in the increase of the 
interior faith. Removed, by such circumstances, 
from the sympathies and charities, which so 
bless and soothe the hour of trial, the mind is 
driven back upon itself, and compelled more 
fully to enter into the presence of Christ, and 
cast its burden more entirely on the Lord. The 
suffering is endured alone, only that the sufferer 
may more fully be sensible, that the Lord is 
with him. He is compelled to forego his own 



Xll PREFACE. 

wishes, either in the extent, or duration of his 
pain, only that he may be more fully conformed 
to the Divine will. He is made partaker of the 
sufferings of Christ, only that the " power of 
Christ's resurrection " 1 may be more fully exerted 
upon him, — that self may be more fully sub- 
dued; and, that being called to endure the 
temptations and trials of sickness or sorrow, 
without yielding to repining or selfishness, or 
impatience, he may be crucified 2 unto Christ 
with the affections and lusts ; that he may be 
conformed 3 more and more to the image of 
Christ, grace for grace, and glory for glory. 
"And there should be no greater comfort to 
Christian persons, than to be made like unto 
Christ, by suffering patiently adversities, troubles, 
and sickness. For He Himself went not up to 
joy, but first He suffered pain ; He entered not 
into His glory before He was crucified. So truly 
our way to eternal joy is to suffer here with 
Christ ; and our door to enter into eternal life 
is gladly to die with Christ ; that we may rise 

1 Phillip, iii. 10. 2 Galat. v. 24. 3 Rom. viii. 29. 



PREFACE. Xlll 

again from death, and dwell with Him in ever- 
lasting life." l 

Nor is the loneliness of the suffering, and the 
secrecy of the sorrow of the child of God, 
wholly lost to the Church on earth, because of 
the obscurity or darkness of the heavenly dis- 
cipline. His prayers "come up as a memorial 
before God," with the incense of the prayers of 
all the saints, from his own Altar. 2 And while 
the rich offer of their abundance, and the wise 
from their treasures of wisdom, he is able to 
cast in more than they all, in his intercessions 
for the body of Christ's Church Militant. And 
we know not how far the prosperity, the purity, 
and the safety of the Church even, is dependent 
upon the continual intercession, made from the 
unseen Altars of subdued hearts and sanctified 
sufferings. The trial of faith results, too, in the 
benefit of a Christian example. The light, re- 
kindled and brightened in the crucible of pain, 
fed by the unseen oil of faith and patience, 



1 Eng. and Amer. Office for the Visitation of the Sick. 

2 Rev. viii. 4. 



XIV PREFACE. 

burns brightly and is seen of men, and they 
glorify our Father who is in Heaven. What an 
example is thus set of patience, of meekness, of 
heavenly-mindedness, of submission to the will 
of God ! What a living attestation is given to 
the power of His Word, and the faithfulness of 
His promises ! And how does one and another 
see beside such sufferers the " fourth form like 
unto the Son of God," and themselves, walking 
in the midst of the fire, unhurt, and upon whom 
the fire, evidently, has no power to cast down ! 
How often are they ministers of mercy, in 
their lessons of wisdom and patience, to those, 
whom lesser trials cause to faint, and who have 
but just begun to bear the burden and heat of 
the day. 

Such is described to have been the character 
of the suffering child of God, of whom we have 
spoken ; fervent in her prayers ; child-like in her 
submission ; great in her patience ; with conver- 
sation full of wisdom and love. Through all 
her sufferings, her faith and patience endured 
unshaken and unwearied, even till her peaceful 



PREFACE. XV 

and blessed end. To her reconciled Father in 
Christ Jesus, she had trusted all her hopes, and 
by Him she was kept in perfect peace, until He 
had completed His work within her, and made 
her meet for that nearer presence, after which 
her loving spirit thirsted so ardently. " What a 
wonderful world," she said in one of her last 
letters, " this is ! but He will set all things right 
at last ! Oh, that He would come ! Oh, how I 
long sometimes to hear His Voice ! that Voice ! 

and to see His face ! to hear Him say, 

c Thou art mine ; I have loved thee with an 
everlasting love ! ' to fall at His feet and wor- 
ship Him in the still and satisfied hush and 
rapture of love's deep adoration, when the heart 
knows it has possession of perfect blessedness.' 7 

And so she passed from us, says her biogra- 
pher, into the rest of Paradise, and the waiting 
for her crown. 

This little volume is her memorial ; and it is 
addressed to all those, who are "any ways 
afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or estate," 
and thus called, in any respect, to the fellowship 



XVI PREFACE. 

of Christ's sufferings, in the hope and desire, 
that it may help them to know Christ, and the 
power of His resurrection, being made conform- 
able to His death ; and that " for what cause 
soever, the visitation be sent unto them, it may 
turn to their profit, and help them forward in 
the right way, that leadeth unto everlasting 

life." 

P. H. Greenleaf. 

Feast of the Ascension, 1849. 



^onsolatio. 



Meek and reverent Submission. 

He is not worthy to pass for thy child that re- 
ceives not thy stripes with reverent meekness : 
tears may be here allowed ; but a reluctant frown 
were no better than a rebellion. 

Let infidels, then, and ignorants, who think 
they suffer by chance, repine at their adversities, 
and be dejected with their afflictions : for me, 
who know that I have a Father in heaven full of 
mercy and compassion, whose providence hath 
measured out to a scruple the due proportions of 
my sorrows, counting my sighs, and reserving 
the tears which He wrings from me in his bottle; 1 
why do I not patiently lie down and put my 
mouth in the dust, meekly submitting to his holy 
pleasure, and blessing the hand from which I 
smart 7 

1 Psalm lvi. 8. 

1 



2 CONSOLATIO. 

Affliction, like the night-storm on the Sea of Galilee. 

Jesus is now on the mount; his disciples on 
the sea ; * yet while thus employed in his sublime 
contemplations, he could see his absent disciples, 
and pity them while tossed on the waves. That 
all-piercing Eye is restrained by no limits. At 
once he beholds the highest heavens, and the 
midst of the sea; the glory of His Father and 
the misery of His servants. Whatever prospects 
present themselves to his view, he can bestow 
the tenderest compassion on the distressed of 
mankind. 

How much more, O Saviour, from the height 
of thine eternal felicity, dost thou look down on 
us thy poor creatures, buffetted by the unquiet 
waves of this troublesome world, by the rude and 
boisterous storms of affliction. Thou didst fore- 
see the toil and danger of these thy disciples, and 
yet wouldst send them away, that they might 
experience the horrors of the tempest. Thou, 
who couldst prevent our sufferings by thy power, 
wilt permit them by thy wisdom, that thou 
mayest glorify thy mercy in our deliverance, and 
confirm our faith by the event of our calamities. 

1 The ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, 
for the wind'was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night 
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea, and spake unto them, say- 
ing, " Be of good cheer : it is I : be not afraid." Matlh. xiv. 24, 25. 



CONSOLATIO. 3 

How do all things apparently conspire to .fill the 
disciples with consternation ! The night was 
dark and tempestuous ; their Master was absent, 
the sea was strong, the winds high and contrary. 
Had their Lord been with them, howsoever the 
elements had raged, they would have considered 
themselves as secure. Had the waves been tran- 
quil, or the winds propitious, they might have 
remained in a state of serenity during his ab- 
sence — now the season, the wind, the sea, and 
the retirement of their Master, contribute to ren- 
der them perfectly miserable. Sometimes the 
providence of God thinks fit so to direct the 
course of events, that to his most faithful servants 
there appears no glimpse of comfort; but such an 
universal gloominess as if Heaven and Earth had 
conspired to overwhelm them with sorrow. 

Yea, O Saviour ! what a dead night, what a 
fearful tempest, what an astonishing dereliction 
was that, wherein thou thyself criedst out in the 
bitterness of thine anguished soul, u My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Yet, in all 
these extremities of misery, our gracious God in- 
tends nothing but his greater glory and ours; the 
triumph of our faith, the crown of our victory. 

All that longsome and tempestuous night must 
the disciples wear out in danger and horror, as 
given over to the winds and waves; but in the 
fourth watch of the night, when they were wearied 



4 CONSOLATIO. 

out with toils and fears, comes deliverance. At 
their entrance into the ship, at the rising of the 
tempest, at the shutting-in of the evening, there 
was no news of Christ ; but when they have been 
all the night long beaten, not so much with storms 
and waves, as with their own thoughts; now in 
the fourth watch (which was near to the morning) 
Jesus came unto them, and purposely not till 
then; that He might exercise their patience; that 
He might teach them to wait upon Divine Provi- 
dence; that their devotions might be more whetted 
by delay; that they might give more grateful 
welcome to their deliverance. O God ! Thus Thou 
thinkest fit to do still. We are by turns in our 
sea; the winds bluster: the billows swell: the 
night and thy absence heighten our discomfort: 
thy time and ours is set : as yet it is but midnight 
with us ; can we but hold out patiently until the 
fourth watch, Thou wilt surely come and rescue 
us. O ! let us not faint under our sorrows, but 
wear out our three watches of tribulation with 
undaunted patience and holy resolution ! 



Reasons for submission to the Divine will, in sickness , 
and in other trials. 

Remember that God hath bound this sickness 
upon thee by the condition of nature ; for every 



CONSOLATIO. 5 

flower must wither and droop : it is also bound 
upon thee by special providence, and with a design 
to try thee, and with purposes to reward and to 
crown thee. These cords thou canst not break ; 
and therefore lie thou down gently, and suffer the 
hand of God to do what He please, that at least 
thou mayest swallow an advantage, which the 
care and severe mercies of God force down thy 
throat. 

Prevent the violence and trouble of thy spirit 
by an act of thanksgiving; for which in the worst 
of sickness thou canst not want cause, especially 
if thou rememberest that this pain is not an eternal 
pain. 

Propound to your eyes and heart the example of 
the holy Jesus upon the cross. He endured more 
for thee than thou canst either for thyself or Him; 
and remember, that if we be put to suffer, and do 
suffer in a good cause, or in a good manner, so 
that in any sense your sufferings be conformable 
to his sufferings, or can be capable of being united 
to his, we shall reign together with him. 1 The 
highway of the cross, which the King of suffer- 
ings hath trodden before us, is the way to ease, to 
a kingdom, and to felicity. 

It may be, that this may be the last instance 



1 " It is a faithful saying : if we suffer, we shall also reign with 
Him." 2 Tim. ii. 12. 



6 CONSOLATIO. 

and the last opportunity that ever God will give 
thee to exercise any virtue, to do Him any service, 
or thyself any advantage. Be careful that thou 
losest not this ; for to eternal ages this never shall 
return again. 

Sickness is the opportunity and the proper scene 
of exercising some virtues. It is that agony in 
which men are tried for a crown. And if we 
remember what glorious things are spoken of the 
grace of faith, — that it is the life of just men, the 
restitution of the dead in trespasses and sins, the 
justification of a sinner, the support of the weak, 
the confidence of the strong, the magazine of pro- 
mises, and the title to very glorious rewards ; we 
may easily imagine, that it must have in it a work 
and a difficulty, in some proportion answerable to 
so great effects. If you will try the excellency, 
and feel the work of faith, place the man in a per- 
secution ; let him ride in a storm ; let his bones 
be broken with sorrow, and his eyelids loosened 
with sickness; let his bread be dipped in tears, 
and all the daughters of music be brought low; 
let God commence a quarrel against him, and be 
bitter in the accents of his anger or his discipline; 
then God tries your faith. Can you then trust his 
goodness, and believe Him to be a father, when 
you groan under his rod? Can you rely upon all 
the strange propositions of Scripture, and be con- 



CONSOLATIO. 7 

tent to perish if they be not true ? Can you receive 
comfort in the discourses of death and heaven, of 
immortality and the resurrection, of the death of 
Christ and conforming to his sufferings? Truth 
is, there are but two great periods in which faith 
demonstrates itself to be a powerful and mighty 
grace ; and they are, persecution and the ap- 
proaches of death, for the passive part ; and a 
temptation, for the active. In the days of pleasure 
and the night of pain, faith is to fight her agonis- 
ticon^ to contend for mastery ; and faith overcomes 
all alluring and fond temptations to sin ; and faith 
overcomes all our weaknesses andfaintings in our 
troubles. By the faith of the promises, we learn 
to despise the world, choosing those objects which 
faith discovers; and, by expectation of the same 
promises, we are comforted in all our sorrows, and 
enabled to look through and see beyond the cloud ; 
but the vigor of it is pressed and called forth, 
when all our fine discourses come to be reduced 
to practice. For in our health and clearer days 
it is easy to talk of putting trust in God; we 
readily trust Him for life when we are in health, 
for provisions when we have fair revenues, and 
for deliverance when we are newly escaped : but 
let us come to sit upon the margent of our grave, 
and let a tyrant lean hard upon our fortunes, and 
dwell upon our wrong; let the storm arise, and 
the keels toss till the cordage crack, or that all 



8 CONSOLATIO. 

our hopes bulge under ns, and descend into the 
hollowness of sad misfortunes; then can you 
believe, when you neither hear, nor see, nor feel 
any thing but objections? This is the proper 
work of sickness : faith is then brought into the 
theatre, and so exercised, that if it abides but to 
the end of the contention, we may see the work 
of faith, which God will hugely crown. God 
hath crowned the memory of Job with a wreath 
of glory, because he sat upon his dunghill wisely 
and temperately ; and his potsherd and his groans, 
mingled with praises and justifications of God, 
pleased him like an anthem sung by angels in the 
morning of the resurrection. God could not choose 
but be pleased with the delicious accents of mar- 
tyrs, when in their tortures they cried out nothing 
but " Holy Jesus," and " Blessed be God ; " and 
they also themselves, who, with a hearty resig- 
nation to the Divine pleasure, can delight in God's 
severe dispensations, will have the transportations 
of cherubim when they enter into the joy of God. 
If God be delicious to his servants when He smites 
them, He will be nothing but ravishments and 
ecstasies to their spirits, when He refreshes them 
with the overflowings of joy in the day of recom- 
pences. No man is more miserable than he that 
hath no adversity. Fathers, because they design 
to have their children wise and valiant, apt for 
counsel or for arms, send them to severe govern- 



CONSOLATIO. 9 

merits, and tie them to study, to hard labor, and 
afflictive contingencies. They rejoice when the 
bold boy strikes a lion with his hunting-spear, 
and shrinks not when the beast comes to affright 
his early courage ; and the man that designs his 
son for noble employments, to honors and to tri- 
umphs, to consular dignities and presidencies of 
councils, loves to see him pale with study, or 
panting with labor, hardened with sufferance or 
eminent by dangers. And so God dresses us for 
heaven. He loves to see us struggling with a 
disease, and resisting the devil, and contesting 
against the weaknesses of nature, and against hope 
to believe in hope, resigning ourselves to God's 
will, praying Him to choose for us, and dying in 
all things but faith and its blessed consequences; 
ut ad officium cum periculo simus prompti ; and 
the danger and the resistance shall endear the 
office. For so have I known the boisterous north 
wind pass through the yielding air, which opened 
its bosom, and appeased its violence, by enter- 
taining it with easy compliance in all the regions 
of its reception ! but when the same breath of 
heaven hath been checked with the stiffness of a 
tower, or the united strength of wood, it grew 
mighty, and dwelt there, and made the highest 
branches stoop, and make a smooth path for it on 
the top of all its glories. So is sickness, and so is 
the grace of God: when sickness hath made the 



10 CONSOLATIO. 

difficulty, then God's grace hath made a triumph, 
and by doubling its power hath created new pro- 
portions of a reward; and then shows its biggest 
glory when it hath the greatest difficulty to mas- 
ter, the greatest weaknesses to support, the most 
busy temptations to contest with ; for so God loves 
that his strength should be seen in our weakness 
and our danger. 



The Cross of suffering, the fountain of happiness: the 
Cross of patience, taken up and borne by divine grace : 
and both a testimony of love to Christ. 1 

In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in 
the cross is protection from thine enemies ; from 
the cross is infusion of heavenly Spirit, true for- 
titude, joy of the Spirit, conquest of self, per- 
fection of holiness. There is no health of the 
soul, nor hope of eternal life, but in the cross. 
Take up, therefore, thy cross and follow Jesns, 
and thou shalt go into life everlasting. He 
hath gone before thee, carrying His cross, upon 
which He died for thee, that thou mayest bear 

1 The following extract is made from the " Imitation of Christ," 
written by Thomas Hamerken, surnamed a Kempis, who was born 
at Kempen, in Germany, A. D. 13S0. — It affords us sufficient proof 
that Christian faith and devotion of the highest order, were still 
existing in the Church. 



CONSOLATIO. 11 

thine own cross, and upon that die to thyself for 
Him ; because if thou die with Him, thou shalt 
also live with Him; "if we are partakers of His 
sufferings, we shall be partakers also of His 
glory." 

Dispose and order all things according as thou 
wilt, and as seems best unto thee, and thou wilt 
still find something to suffer, willingly or unwil- 
lingly ; and so thou shalt continually find the 
cross : thou shalt feel either pain of body, or dis- 
tress and anguish of spirit. Sometimes thou shalt 
be left by God's spirit : other times, thou shalt be 
afflicted by thy neighbor : and what is more, thou 
shalt often be a trouble to thyself — thou shalt 
feel a burden such as no human help can remove, 
no earthly comfort lighten ; but bear it thou must, 
as long as it is the will of God to continue it on 
thee. But God, in permitting no ray of comfort 
to visit thee in the darkness of distress, would 
have thee learn to suffer tribulation in submissive 
humility, and resign thy whole state, present and 
future, to his absolute disposal. 

No man has so lively a sense of the sufferings 
of Christ, as he who hath suffered such like 
things. 

The cross is always ready, and waits for thee in 
every place. Run where thou wilt, thou canst not 
avoid it ; for wherever thou runnest, thou takest 
thyself with thee, and art always sure of finding 



12 CONSOLATIO. 

thyself. Turn which way thou wilt, either to the 
things above or to the things below, to that which 
is within, or that which is without thee, thou wilt 
in all certainty find the cross ; and if thou would- 
est enjoy peace and obtain the unfading crown of 
glory, it is necessary that in every place and in 
all events thou shouldest bear it willingly, and in 
patience possess thy soul. 

If thou bearest the cross willingly, it will soon 
bear thee, and lead thee beyond the reach of suf- 
fering, where God shall take away all suffering 
from thy heart.. But if thou bearest it with re- 
luctance, it will be a burden inexpressively pain- 
ful, which yet thou must still feel; and by every 
impatient effort to throw it from thee, thou wilt 
only render thyself less and less able to sustain its 
weight, till at length it crush thee. 

Why hopest thou to avoid that from which no 
human being has been exempt? Who among the 
saints hath accomplished his pilgrimage in this 
world without adversity and distress? Even our 
blessed Lord passed not one hour of his most holy 
life, without tasting "the bitter cup that was 
given him to drink;" and of Himself He saith, 
that " it behoved him to suffer, and to rise from 
the dead, and so to enter into his glory." And 
why dost thou seek any other path to glory but 
that in which, bearing the cross, thou art called to 
follow " the Captain of thy salvation ?" The life 



CONSOLATIO. 13 

of Christ was a continual cross, an unbroken chain 
of sufferings; and desirest thou a perpetuity of re- 
pose and joy ? 

This meek and patient submission under it, is 
not the effect of any power which is inherent in 
man, and which he can boast of as his own; but 
is the pure fruit of the grace of Christ. No : it is 
not in man to love and bear the cross; to resist the 
appetites of the body, and bring them under abso- 
lute subjection to the Spirit; to shun honors; to 
receive affronts with meekness; to bear with calm 
resignation the loss of fortune, health and friends ; 
and to have no desire after the riches, the honors 
and pleasures of the world. If thou dependest 
upon thy own will and strength to do and to suf- 
fer all this, thou wilt find thyself as unable to 
accomplish it, as to create another world ; but if 
thou turnest to the divine power within thee, and 
trustest only to that as the doer and sufferer of all, 
the strength of Omnipotence will be imparted to 
thee, and the world and the flesh shall be put 
under thy feet: armed with this holy confidence, 
and defended by the cross of Christ, thou needest 
not fear the most malignant efforts of thy great 
adversary the devil. 

Dispose thyself, therefore, like a true and faith- 
ful servant, to bear with fortitude and resolution 
the cross of thy blessed Lord, to which He was 
nailed in testimony of his infinite love of thee. 



14 CONSOLATIO. 

Prepare thy spirit to suffer patiently the innumer- 
able inconveniences and troubles of this miserable 
life ; for these thou wilt find, though thou runnest 
to the ends of the earth, or hidest thyself in its 
deepest caverns : and it is patient suffering alone 
that, can either disarm their power, or heal the 
wounds they have made. Drink freely and affec- 
tionately of thy Lord's bitter cup, if thou desirest 
to manifest thy friendship for Him, and the part 
thou hast with Him. 

To suffer, therefore, is thy portion ; and to 
suffer patiently and willingly, is the great testi- 
mony of thy love and allegiance to thy Lord. 

If any way but bearing the cross and dying to 
his own will, could have redeemed man from that 
fallen life of self in flesh and blood, which is his 
alienation from, and enmity to, God ; Christ would 
have taught it in his word, and established it by 
his example. But of all universally, that desire 
to follow Him, He has required the bearing of the 
cross ; and without exception has said to all, " If 
any man will come after me, let him deny him- 
self, take up his cross, and follow me." 

When, therefore, we have read all books, and 
examined all methods, to find out the path that 
will lead us back to the blessed state from which 
we have wandered, this conclusion only will re- 
main, that " through much tribulation we must 
enter into the kingdom of God. 7 ' 



CONSOLATIO. 15 

Tlie necessity of and means for the subjection of the 
Will. 

The greatest blessing which man can receive, 
is to have his private individual will subordinated 
to the sentiment of his relation with God. And 
yet his continual business in this world is to 
strengthen this individual will, which opposes the 
entrance of God into his heart. He seeks its 
gratification in all things, and is ever guarding 
against any thing which may cross it. He thus 
blindly loves and feeds his disease, and resists all 
the attempts of Divine love to cure it. This 
is man's way, and it is a way which leads down 
to death. God's way is to cross man's way, that 
he may be turned from it and live. He crosses 
him in his good opinion of himself, in his confi- 
dence in his own strength and in his own wisdom. 
He crosses him in his favorite schemes of happi- 
ness. He sends affliction after affliction. He pours 
bitterness into his soul. He sends disease and 
death into the circle of his friends. He gives him 
up to the idolatry of the creature, and then tears 
his idol from him, or makes it a curse to him. He 
lays him on a bed of sickness, 1 and tries him with 

1 " In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. Then he 
turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord, and wept 
sore. Then came the word of the Lord, saying, I have heard thy 
prayer, I have seen thy tears."— Is. xxxviii. 2. 



16 CONSOLATIO. 

pain and restlessness, and brings him to the 
boundary which separates time from eternity, and 
makes him look backwards into past time and 
forwards into the future eternity, and shows him 
that he was made to dwell with God through 
eternity, and yet that all his past days have been 
spent in unfitting himself for this state ; and He 
says to him, " How can thy heart endure or thy 
hands be strong on the day that I plead with 
thee?" turn unto Me, the only strength of the 
creature. This is the way of God towards man, 
of that God whose name is Love : and this is the 
way that He expresses His love. It is thus that 
He shakes the bulwarks of independence which 
guard the entrance of the soul against God. It is 
thus that He convinces man of his guilt, and 
weakness, and ignorance, and misery, and per- 
suades him to open the door of his heart to God, 
and to take shelter under his compassionate omni- 
potence. Blessed are they who are persuaded ; 
blessed are they in whose hearts God makes a 
place for Himself, though it is by casting out all 
other joys. 



Go(Ts purpose of grace in all providential dealings. 

We know that the government of the world is 
in the hand of God, and therefore we may rest 






CONSOLATIO. 17 

assured, that there is not a single link in the 
apparently perplexed chain of human things 
which does not connect with, and guide to, the 
coming glory ; we may rest assured, not only 
that all the histories of the kingdoms of this world 
are under the influence of an unfelt but irresisti- 
ble control, preparing the way for that kingdom 
which never can be moved, but also that personal 
events as well as national, private as well as pub- 
lic, are all under the same mandate, commissioned 
to lead on to the same great consummation. This 
truth gives a seriousness and a dignity to every 
thing : it banishes littleness from life, because it 
connects all with the glory of God and the eradi- 
cation of evil ; and it seems to conduct us under 
the shadow of everlasting and omnipotent love, 
where we may rest in peace until all calamities be 
overpast. 

When the eye of the spirit is thus opened to see 
God is working in every thing, and by every thing, 
to bring on the reign of righteousness ; the heart 
will feel itself invited to the blessed privilege of 
entering into the purposes of God, of sympathizing 
with the everlasting counsels of his grace, of 
rejoicing in their assured success, and of being a 
fellow-worker with him in every action of life. 
These actions may appear small and insignificant 
in the world's judgment, but the believer knows 
that it is not in vain that the Ruler of the universe 
2 



18 CONSOLATIO. 

has called him to do all things to the glory of 
God. These are animating thoughts for poor 
wanderers in the wilderness, who have listened to 
the Saviour's voice. For them the fall, with all 
its sin, and misery, and darkness, will soon pass 
away; having served, under the control of Him 
who bringeth good out of evil, to glorify the 
Divine attributes, and to introduce a high, and 
holy, and happy order of things ; higher, and 
holier, and happier than that which Adam lost, 
because founded on a nearer relation with God, 
and a fuller manifestation of his character. The 
gate of Eden will once again be unbarred, and 
the banished ones be brought back; and in the 
mean time, though their path lie through the 
desert, yet that path is the way of holiness, and 
in it He will be with them, whose presence can 
make the wilderness to be glad, and the desert to 
rejoice and blossom like the rose. 



The effects of the peace of God. 

" The peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep your hearts and minds 
through Christ Jesus. " l This peace keeps the 
heart in affliction. It is a pledge of the special 

1 Phil. iv. 7. 



CONSOLATIO. 19 

love of Cod to the soul; and as such it begets 
confidence in Him, so that the soul can stay 
itself on his pomises, and encourages itself in 
his faithfulness, and look to his care and power 
for a happy issue out of all its troubles. 1 It 
both begets hope and strengthens hope ; and he 
who is going full of hope to heaven, is not easily 
shaken or depressed. With a crown of life before 
him, he feels that he can afford to bear the light 
affliction of the way that leads to it. Besides, it 
leaves us something to fall back on, when other 
props, and refuges, and consolations, are with- 
drawn. Let a worldly man lose his earthly com- 
forts, and he has lost his all ; but let a man of 
God lose what he may, his main support, his chief 
treasure is yet safe. Put this peace into his heart, 
and then place him where you will, — on the bed 
of sickness, in the house of mourning, by the 
grave of his best, and dearest, and only friend; 
strike him where you may, and how you may, he 
can bear the blow. He grieves, grieves perhaps 
more than other men; for his religion has enlarg- 
ed his powers of suffering, it has extended his 
view, it has deepened his feelings and refined his 
heart: but he is not moved; no practical, no 
abiding impression is made on him. He may 
weep for an hour, but he will soon take up the 

1 " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on 
Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."— Isaiah, xxvi. 3. 



20 CONSOLATIO. 

language of the destitute Paul, and say, " I have 
all, and abound; I am full. None of these things 
move me; nay, in all these things I am more than 
conqueror, through him that loved me." 



Reasons, why God removes earthly idols. 

The comfort that most delights us, is generally 
the first to perish ; the mercies we lose the soonest 
are those we love the best. This is not the mere 
language of sentiment or poetry; it is the testi- 
mony of fact. When have we ever put the crea- 
ture in God's place, given it that room in our soul 
which He ought to occupy, but God has either 
removed it, or embittered it, or put an end to it ? 
Many of our blessings have we lost by loving 
them too well. We have slain them by setting 
too great a value on them, and taking our rest in 
them. There is not a single earthly good that 
will bear man's hand when man firmly grasps it. 
His touch withers and destroys every thing. And 
oh, what a mercy for man that it is so! It is in 
this way that a forgotten God recalls our wander- 
ing affections to Himself. He lays waste the 
enthroned creature, that He may once again 
enthrone Himself: He breaks the cistern, not 
that we may be left parched and fainting in the 



CONSOLATIO. 21 

wilderness of life, but go and satisfy our thirsting 
souls once again from the everlasting spring: He 
crushes the reed, but He substitutes for it a rock : 
He puts far away from us " lover and friend," 
with all the unutterable sweetness of their af- 
fection, and the tenderness of their love ; but 
what does He substitute ? Himself ; the intense, 
unfathomable love of his own infinite mind, 
the presence of Christ, and communion with 
Heaven. 



TJie lot of all GooVs saints found, ly experience, to be 
the same. 

It is written, that " through much tribulation 
we must enter into the kingdom of God." God 
has all things in his own hands. He can spare, 
He can inflict : He often spares, (may He spare 
us still!) but He often tries us: in one way or 
another He tries every one. At some time or other 
of the life of every one, there is pain, and sorrow, 
and trouble. So it is; and the sooner, perhaps, 
we can look upon it as a law of our Christian con- 
dition, the better. One generation comes, and then 
another. They issue forth and succeed like leaves 
in spring, and in all this, law is observable. 
They are tried, and then they triumph ; they are 



22 CONSOLATIO. 

humbled, and then they are exalted; they over- 
come the world, and then they sit down on Christ's 
throne. Hence St. Peter^who at first was in such 
amazement and trouble at his Lord's afflictions, 
bids us not look on suffering as a strange thing. 
u as though some strange thing happened unto us, 
but rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's 
sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed 
we may be glad also with exceeding joy." Again, 
St. Paul says, " We glory in tribulations, knowing 
that tribulation worketh patience." And again, 
" If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be 
also glorified together." And again, " If we suffer, 
we shall also reign with him." And St. John, 
" The world knoweth us not, because it knew him 
not. We know that when he shall appear, we 
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 
What is here said of persecution, will apply of 
course to all trials, and much more to those lesser 
trials, which are the utmost that Christians have 
to endure now. Yet I suppose it is a long time 
before any one of us recognizes and understands, 
that his own state on earth is, in one shape or 
other, a state of trial and sorrow; and that if he 
has intervals of external peace, this is all gain, 
and much more than he has any right to expect. 

But how different must the state of the Church 
appear to beings who contemplate it as a whole, 
who have contemplated it for ages, as the angels ! 



CONSOLATIO. 23 

We know what experience does for us in this 
world. Men get to see and understand the course 
of things, and by what rules it proceeds; and they 
can foretel what will happen, and they are not 
surprised at what does happen. They take the 
history of things as a matter of course. They are 
not startled that things happen in one way, not in 
another ; it is the rule. Night comes after day, 
summer after winter ; cold, frost, and snow, in 
their season. Certain illnesses have their ap- 
pointed times, or visit at certain ages. All things 
go through a process ; they have a beginning and 
an end. Grown men know this, but it is otherwise 
with children. To them every thing that happens 
is strange and surprising. They by turns feel 
wonder, admiration, or fear, at any thing that 
happens ; they do not know whether it will hap- 
pen again or not; and they know nothing of the 
regular operation of causes, or the connection of 
those effects which result from one and the same. 
And so, too, as regards the state of our souls under 
the covenant of mercy : the heavenly hosts, who 
see what is going on upon earth, well understand, 
even from having seen it before, what is the course 
of a soul travelling from hell to heaven. They 
have seen, again and again, in numberless in- 
stances, that suffering is the path to peace; that 
they that sow in tears shall reap in joy ; and that 
what was true of Christ, is fulfilled in a measure 



24 CONSOLATIO. 

in his followers. Let us try to accustom ourselves 
to this view of the subject. The whole Church, 
all elect souls, each in its turn, is called to this 
necessary work. Once it was the turn of others, 
and now it is our turn. Once it was the Apostles' 
turn. It was St. Paul's turn once. He had all 
cares on him at once ; covered from head to foot 
with cares, as Job with sores ; and, as if all this 
was not enough, he had a thorn in the flesh added, 
some personal discomfort ever with him. Yet he 
did his part well; he was as a strong and bold 
wrestler in his day, and at the close of it he was 
able to say, "I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith." And 
after him the excellent of the earth, the white- 
robed army of martyrs, and the cheerful company 
of confessors, each in his turn, each in his day, 
likewise played the man. And so, down to this 
very time, when faith has well nigh failed, first 
one and then another have been called out to ex- 
hibit before the Great King. It is as though all 
of us were allowed to stand round his throne at 
once, and He called out one, first this man, and 
then that, to take up the chaunt by himself, each 
in his tarn having to repeat the melody which his 
brethren have before gone through ; or as if it were 
some trial of strength or agility, and while the ring 
of bystanders beheld and applauded, we in suc- 
cession, one by one, were actors in the pageant. 



CONSOLATIO. 05 

Such is our state ; angels are looking on, Christ 
has gone before. Christ has given us an example 
that we may follow his steps. He went through 
far more than we can be called to suffer ; our 
brethren have gone through much more, and they 
seem to encourage us by their success, and to 
sympathize in our essay: now it is our turn; and 
all ministering spirits keep silence and look on. 

Oh ! let not your foot slip, or your eye be false, 
or your ear dull, or your attention flagging ! Be 
not dispirited, be not afraid; keep a good heart ; be 
bold, draw not back; you will be carried through. 
Whatever troubles come on you, of mind, body, 
or estate, from within or from without, from chance 
or from intent, from friends or foes — whatever your 
troubles be, though you be lonely, O children of a 
Heavenly Father, be not afraid! quit you like 
men in your day ! and, when it is over, Christ 
will receive you to Himself, and your heart shall 
rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 
Christ is already in that place of peace which is 
all in all. He is on the right hand of God. He is 
hidden in the brightness of the radiance which 
issues from the everlasting throne. He is in the 
very abyss of peace, where there is no voice of 
tumult or distress, but a deep stillness — stillness, 
that greatest of all goods which we can fancy, 
that most perfect of joys, the utter, profound, in- 
effable tranquillity of the Divine Essence. He has 



26 CONSOLATIO. 

entered into his rest. Oh ! how great a good will 
it be, if, when this troublesome life is over, we in 
our turn also enter into that same rest ! if the time 
shall one day come, when we shall enter into his 
tabernacle above, and hide ourselves under the 
shadow of his wings ; if we shall be among the 
number of those blessed dead, who die in the Lord, 
and rest from their labors ! Here we are tossing 
on the sea, and the wind is contrary. All through 
the day we are tried and fempted in various 
ways ; we cannot think, speak, or act, but infir- 
mity and sin are at hand. But in the unseen 
world, where Christ has entered, all is peace. 
There is the eternal throne, and a rainbow round 
about it, like unto an emerald. 1 " There is no more 
death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither any more 
pain ; for the former things have passed away." 
Nor any more sin, nor any more guilt ; no more 
remorse, no more punishment, no more penitence, 
no more trial; no infirmity to depress us, no affec- 
tion to mislead us, no passion to transport us, no 
prejudice to blind us; no sloth, no pride, no envy, 
no strife ; but the light of God's countenance, and 
a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, pro- 
ceeding out of the throne. That is our home; here 
we are but on pilgrimage, and Christ is calling us 
home. He calls us to his many mansions which 

1 Rev. iv. 3. 



CONSOLATIO. 27 

He lias prepared ; and the Spirit and the Bride call 
us too, and all things will be ready for us by the 
time of our coming. " Seeing then that we have a 
great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, 
Jesus the Son of God, let as hold fast our profes- 
sion ;" seeing that we have " so great a cloud of 
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight," " let us 
labor to enter into our rest;" " let us come boldly 
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain 
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 



Light affliction worketh glory. 

" Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." * Methinks this consideration 
alone should be so effectual to teach us patience, 
that we should scarce have patience to hear any 
more ! Shall our glory superabound, as our suf- 
ferings have abounded ) Shall our eternal refresh- 
ings be measured out to us by the cup of afflic- 
tions we have drunk of? Doth God beat and 
hammer us, only to make us vessels unto honor ? 
Shall all sorrow and sighing flee away, and ever- 
lasting joy be upon our heads? Wherefore, then, 
thy fretting and fuming, O Christian ] Wherefore 

1 2 Cor. iv. 17. 



CONSOLATIO. 



complain because God taketh a course to make 
thee too glorious? Doth God do thee an injury 
to fit thee for a higher place in heaven than thou 
carest to possess? Thy impatience can free thee 
from no other weight but one, and that is " an ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory." 



How to commit our souls unto God. 

" Wherefore let them that suffer according to 
the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls 
to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator." 1 
Nothing doth so establish the mind amidst the 
rollings and turbulence of present things, as both 
a look above them, and a look beyond them; 
above them to the steady and good hand by which 
they are ruled, and beyond them to the sweet and 
beautiful end to which by that hand they shall be 
brought. 

If men would have inward peace amidst out- 
ward trouble, they must walk by the rule of peace, 
and keep strictly to it. If you would commit 
your soul to the keeping of God, know that He is 
a holy God ; and an unholy soul that walks in 
any way of wickedness, whether known or se- 
cret, is no fit commodity to put into his pure hand 
to keep. 

*1 Peter iv. 19. 



CONSOLATIO. 09 

You that would have safety in God in evil times, 
beware of evil ways, for in these it cannot be. If 
you will be safe in Him, you must stay with Him, 
and in all your ways keep within Him " as your 
fortress.'' Now, in the ways of sin you run out 
from Him. 

Study pure and holy walking, if you would 
have your confidence firm, and have boldness and 
joy in God. You will find that a little sin will 
shake your trust, and disturb your peace, more 
than the greatest sufferings: yea, in those suffer- 
ings your assurance and joy in God will grow and 
abound most if sin be kept out. All the winds 
which blow about the earth from all points, stir it 
not; only that within the bowels of it, makes the 
earth quake. I do not mean that for infirmities 
a Christian ought to be discouraged. But take 
heed of walking in any way of sin, for that will 
unsettle thy confidence. Innocency and holy 
walking make the soul of a sound constitution, 
which the counterblasts of affliction wear not out, 
nor alter. Sin makes it so sickly and crazy, that 
it can endure nothing. Therefore, study to keep 
your consciences pure, arid they shall be peaceable ; 
yea, in the worst times commonly most peaceable, 
and best furnished with spiritual confidence and 
comfort. 

Faith rolls the soul over on God, ventures it 
into his hand, and rests satisfied concerning it, 



30 CONSOLATIO. 

being there. There is no way but this to be quiet 
within, to be impregnable and immovable in all 
assaults, and fixed in all changes, believing in his 
free love. Therefore, be persuaded to resolve on 
that: not doubting and disputing, Whether shall 
I believe, or not? Shall I think He will suffer me 
to lay my soul upon Him, to keep so unworthy, 
so guilty a soul ? Were it not presumption ? Oh ! 
what sayest thou? Why dost thou thus dishonor 
Him, and disquiet thyself? If thou hast a pur- 
pose to walk in any way of wickedness, indeed 
thou art not for Him : yea, thou comest not near 
Him to give Him thy soul. But wouldst thou 
have it delivered from sin rather than from trouble; 
yea, rather from hell ? Is that the chief safety thou 
seekest, to be kept from iniquity, from thine own 
iniquity, thy beloved sins? Dost thou desire to 
dwell in Him, and walk with Him? Then, what- 
soever be thy guiltiness and unworthiness, come 
forward, and give Him thy soul to keep. If He 
should seem to refuse it, press it on Him. If He 
stretch not forth his hand, lay it down at his foot, 
and leave it there, and resolve not to take it back. 
Say, Lord, Thou hast, made us these souls, Thou 
callest for them again to be committed to Thee : 
here is one. It is unworthy, but what soul is not 
so? It is most unworthy, but therein will the 
riches of thy grace appear most in receiving it. 
And thus leave it with Him, and know He will 
make thee a good account of it. 



CONSOLATIO. 31 

There are in the words, other two grounds of 
quietness of spirit in sufferings. It is according to 
the will of God. The believing soul, subjected 
and levelled to that will, complying with his good 
pleasure in all, cannot have a more powerful per- 
suasive than this, that all is ordered by his will. 
This settled in the heart would settle it much, and 
make it even in all things ; not only to know, but 
wisely and deeply to consider that it is thus, that 
all is measured in heaven, every drachm of thy 
troubles weighed by that skilful hand which doth 
all things by weight, number, and measure. 

Consider God as thy Father, who hath taken 
special charge of thee, and of thy soul; thou 
hast given it to Him, and He hath received it. 
And upon this consideration, study to follow his 
will in all, to have no will but his. This is thy 
duty and thy wisdom. Nothing is gained by 
spurning and struggling, but to hurt and vex thy- 
self; but by complying, all is gained ; sweet peace. 
It is the very secret, the mystery of solid peace 
within, to resign all to his will, to be disposed of 
at his pleasure, without the least contrary thought. 
And thus, like two-faced pictures, those sufferings 
and troubles, and whatsoever else, while beheld 
on the one side as painful to the flesh, hath an un- 
pleasant visage; yet, go about a little, and look 
upon it as thy Father's will, and then it is smiling, 
beautiful, and lovely. This I would recommend 



32 CONSOLATIO. 

to you, not only for temporals, as easier there, but 
in spiritual things, your comforts and sensible en- 
largements, to love all that He does. It is the sum 
of Christianity to have thy will crucified, and the 
will of thy Lord thy only desire. Whether joy or 
sorrow, sickness or health, life or death, in all, in 
all, " Thy will be done." 

The other ground of quietness is contained in 
the first word, which looks back on the foregoing 
discourse, " Wherefore " — what ? Seeing that 
your reproachings and sufferings are not endless, 
yea, that they are short, they shall end, quickly 
end, and end in glory, be not troubled about them ; 
overlook them. The eye of faith will do it. A 
moment gone, and what are they? This is the 
great cause of our disquietness in present troubles 
and griefs : we forget their end. We are affected 
by our condition in this present life, as if it were 
all, and it is nothing. Oh, how quickly shall all 
the enjoyments and all the sufferings of this life 
pass away, and be as if they had not been ! 



God's work in renewal and sanctijication necessarily 
slow. 

Our first object, even in conversion, is to feel 
rich ; but God's design is to make us feel poor, 






CONSOLATIO. 33 

that we may know how to value our ultimate and 
eternal inheritance in Him. He might break at 
once our chains, and set us free; He might at once 
exchange the garments of our defilement for the 
robes of celestial purity. He might in one instant 
swalloio up death in victory, and place us with 
healed heart and diademed brow before the ever- 
lasting throne. Perhaps, in some cases, He has 
done this ; for who shall limit the actings of his 
power? But this is not the apparent process of 
his cure, or the mode of his munificence. This 
rapidity of salvation would destroy the exercise of 
moral discipline, would draw a veil over many a 
beautiful manifestation of the Divine character, 
and would reveal his tenderness, his patience, and 
his fidelity, rather as inscriptions to be read, than 
as events to be seen. It is by the slow progress of 
spiritual character, by the sad resistance of our 
evil to his good, by the mistakes, and falls, and 
agonies which we experience, and which He miti- 
gates, and repairs, and counteracts; it is by bitter 
self-knowledge, acquired not by theory and art, 
but by fact, and shame, and sorrow ; it is by ten 
thousand proofs of long-suffering, proofs exhibited 
in the very face and contrast of our rebellion, fret- 
fulness, and haste; it is by these things that He 
makes us wise, in order that at last He may make 
us happy; in order that with deep conviction we 
may know ourselves in Him, and be prepared 
3 



34 CONSOLATIO. 

with accents, otherwise to man unspeakable, to 
exclaim in higher and holier regions than these, 
11 Unto Him that hath loved us, and washed us 
from our sins in His own blood, to Him be glory, 
and blessing, and honor, and dominion, henceforth 
and for ever." 



Jesus Christ, the light to see our sorrows by, and the 
companion to be with us when they come. 

On Jesus may our affections fix ; on Him, the 
Healer, the Restorer of humanity, may our hearts 
learn to lean the secret burden of their being; and 
this not in words only, in which we are all ready 
enough to do so, but in very deed and truth. 

If earthly trouble is upon us, let us fly to Him; 
let us beware of all those who would cheer us 
without Him; let us be always sure that the poi- 
son of the asp is hidden under their softest and 
most enticing words. Do they profess to put away 
from us our heavy thoughts? Let us beware, 
lest instead of this, they rob us of the very reality 
of our lives. False friends, indeed, are all such ; 
for they would keep us from the only source of 
true peace; they would mock our thirsty spirits, 
as we cross, parched and weary, the burning sands 



coxsolatio. 35 

of this desert world, with the lying promise of un- 
real water. From all such comforters, then, let us 
turn away. Let us beware of every thing, which 
under any promise would take us ojJ* of ourselves, 
and separate us from God. At such seasons, let 
us even keep ourselves as free as may be from 
necessary business; let us strive to hush our spi- 
rits into silence, that there may be nothing to 
intercept that voice which will speak to us if we 
wait for it ; let us fear lest we be led to seek for 
any other shelter of our spirits short of Him their 
Lord, that so we may find ouselves to be alone 
with Him, that He may frame and fashion us, 
may mould our hearts as He will, may purify, 
and enlighten, and soften, and strengthen, and 
deepen them by his presence in the cloud and 
mystery of sorrow. Let us remember always the 
love which is smiting us, nor dare to look at our 
griefs but in the light of His presence, lest looking 
at them alone we be soured by their sharpness, or 
become fretful, or dull, or even desperate, and so 
reprobate. Let us cast ourselves upon the assu- 
rance of His love, even though it bear the sem- 
blance of the flame-breath of the furnace: and 
walk humbly with Him, lest we mar or hinder 
the blessed purpose of His mercy towards us. 



36 CONSOLATIO. 



Jesus, the source and object of life. 

Under the expression, " To me to live is Christ," 
St. Paul must evidently have meant, first, that 
Christ was the source of new life to him; and 
secondly, that He was the object for which he 
lived. But this was not all. Christ was also his 
joy, his hope, his comfort. We think far too little 
of the sources of happiness which are in Him ! 
The Apostle had formerly drawn his earthly satis- 
factions, and we may say, his heavenly satisfac- 
tions, (for He did seek heaven after the manner 
of a proud and diligent Pharisee,) from other 
sources. Honor, favor, a high place, a famous 
reputation, the applause of the great, and the 
society of the learned, these had been the objects 
for which he lived. To obtain these objects, he 
had set off from Jerusalem to Damascus, " breath- 
ing out threatenings and slaughter against the 
disciples of Christ." Who, (he expected to hear 
it said,) who so zealous as Saul for the traditions 
of the fathers? who so mighty against the Cru- 
cified ] Short expectation of sad boast ! — He is 
changed — that very Crucified has changed him! 
he is a meek disciple of that lowly, lofty Saviour ! 
And now that despised One is all his joy : he sees 
Him, bows before Him, adores Him, loves Him, 
finds all his happiness in His smile, all his conso- 



CONSOLATIO. 37 

lation in His companionship. He finds now that 
"to live is Christ," for enjoyment, as well as for 
exertion. The summer springs of earth's boasted 
joys, its pomp, its learning, its ambition, its roses 
of pleasure, its palm of victory, are all faded and 
dry ; the sight of Jesus has destroyed their charms ; 
he "counts all things but loss for the excellency 
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord." Let 
none think lightly of this branch of the subject ! 
Are the consolations of God small or few ? Is the 
fellowship of the Holy Ghost unsatisfying? Is 
the smile of Jesus, the favor of our great High 
Priest, like the world's love ? is it cold and uncer- 
tain like a winter's sun ? Nay, rather, we cannot 
too highly value it ! There is no sorrow which 
it cannot heal, no burden which it cannot well 
enable us to bear, no loss which it cannot supply. 
If there be any here bowed down by suffering, 
any who mourn over a brother, or husband, or 
wife, or child, called away by God, and lying in 
the cold grave, — is Jesus nigh? He can turn 
your loss to gain. He has done so in multitudes 
of cases. He that can make the desert bloom, can 
make the church-yard smile ! No end, brethren 
beloved in the Lord, no end to the riches of His 
grace, or to the consolations of His presence ! If 
a mourner can say, "to me to live is Christ," he 
has attained the object of his affliction ; God's 
purpose is so far accomplished ; he stands on the 



38 CONSOLATIO. 

same ground with the persecuted Apostle ; nay 
more, he stands with Jesus Himself, and in such 
presence he must be blessed. It is true that 
natural tears will flow ; Christianity does not seal 
up the fountains of affection, nay, it rather more 
widely opens them. But while it expands, it 
sanctifies them. When the Christian mourns, 
Jesus mourns with him ; and the very thought of 
so blessed a fellow-mourner is peace. Let us rest 
therefore on this blessed assurance, that if there 
be any here who is making Christ the object of 
his life, any who is setting Christ before him in 
his daily walk, Christ will make that man's hap- 
piness and security his daily care. It must be so. 
He is far better to us than we are to Him; and if 
we seek His glory, we cannot doubt but that He 
will seek our good. 



Death, the Christian'* s gain. 

" To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 1 
We cannot think of any thing much more glorious 
than an Apostle's life, except it be an Apostle's 
death. The life of all true Christians must be a 
life of much patient endurance, of much and con- 

1 Phil. i. 21. 



CONSOLATIO. 39 

stant suffering. We have all need of patience ; 
life is labor ; and labor with weak hands, and 
with frail bodies, and corrupted hearts, is always 
more or less burdensome. We are not like the 
angels that " excel in strength;" we have not 
their speedy feet, or fiery wings, or uncorrupted 
hearts. We are the painful tenants of polluted 
clay, weighed down with many cares, and vexed 
and tried by many temptations. Even St. Paul 
felt this. He counted up his labors, not as if they 
were no labor, because he was a converted man ; 
labor and sorrow were still labor and sorrow, 
though Christ was his fellow-mourner, and the 
Holy Ghost his fellow-laborer. He was abundant 
in sorrows and in labors, " afflictions, necessities, 
distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, 
watchings, fastings." " In weariness and pain- 
fulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, 
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." It is 
not in human nature, converted or unconverted, 
to love such trials : it is not in flesh and blood to 
be enamored of torture, or weariness, or pain. 
Hence it follows, that death is great "gain" to 
all Christ's faithful followers. It is an escape 
from daily burden, daily trouble, daily corruption. 
"Oh, that I had wings like a dove! " who has 
not often felt and cried with David? "Oh, that 
I had wings like a dove, then would I flee away 
and be at rest. I would hasten my escape from 



40 CONSCLATIO. 

the windy storm and tempest." Not that we 
ought to desire that which God does not give us. 
We must wait His pleasure; but while we wait 
His pleasure, we ought to long for the enjoyment 
of His presence. But then this cannot be except 
through death ; and who wishes for death 3 It is 
too true that the number is but small. To leave 
this world, to change our state of being, to go 
from the comforts and enjoyments of life, to the 
dark uncertainties of that state which is entered 
through death ; to have done with time, and to 
commence an awful eternity ; to finish trial and 
probation, and to stand at Christ's judgment-seat; 
to be uncovered, bare, naked, stripped to the very 
heart and conscience of every disguise, and to 
seem exactly what we are ! No wonder that 
when such is the character of death, and such its 
inevitable consequences, so many shrink from it ! 
It is not many that can say with apostolic confi- 
dence, "To me to die is gain." But why not? 
Why should they not thus feel ? It is because 
they cannot say, "To me to live is Christ! " It 
is because they are not living wholly to Him, that 
they dare not lay down their weary forms upon 
the bed of death, as the tired laborer, after a day 
of toil, sinks gladly on his bed of repose. Never- 
theless, death is to the true and faithful Christian 
immense gain ; it is the door that lets us out of 
all suffering, and lets us into all joy : there are 



CONSOLATIO. 41 

no clouds or care in that glorious world; there is 
no sin or sickness there ; there are no bad men, 
no tempting spirits, no fightings without, or fears 
within; no distresses, labors, persecutions! How 
bright, how happy does that world appear ! To 
have God for our ever-present Father; to hold 
ineffable communion with Jesus and the Spirit of 
Love; to have angels and purified spirits for our 
companions; to talk with Abel, and Enoch, and 
Melchisedec ; with Abraham and Moses, and 
Isaiah and Daniel, and St. John, and St. Paul, 
and St. Peter; and with the martyrs and confes- 
sors of the primitive Church ; to meet again those 
blessed ones whose eyes we have closed in death, 
and whose bodies we have laid in the grave ; and 
all this, in a house built of God, and in an atmos- 
phere of unclouded serenity — may we not, in 
contemplation of this joy, well exclaim, "To die 
is gain?" Yes, it is so to the Christian, — to 
him whose " life is Christ ; " for, however blessed 
his state now, it shall be ten thousand times more 
blessed then : if the consolations of God are not 
small to him now, they shall be immeasurably 
great then : if he has pleasures now, " such as eye 
hath not seen,' 7 those pleasures shall be inconceiv- 
ably increased when he receives them into an 
uncorrupted heart, and enjoys them in a glorified 
body. 



42 CONSOLATIO. 



Prayers and sighs, the Christian's memorial before 
God. 

"And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine 
alms are come up for a memorial before God." 1 
What a blessed thing to have memorials before 
God ! How blessed to have something before 
Him which may put Him in mind of us ! We 
often give keepsakes to our friends, that when 
they look on them they may remember us. It 
cheers our hearts in absence and separation to 
think that this can be. It comforts our sad souls, 
to think that our friends are reminded of us. 
How much more should it do so to think that 
God is put in mind of us, that He remembers us ! 
High as He sits above us, throned above the 
heavens, infinitely great and infinitely glorious, 
yet such poor worms as we, are not forgotten ! 
While He guides the stars in their orbits, and 
speeds the comets on their shining way, He does 
not forget one single heart that "hopes in His 
mercy." "I am poor and needy, yet the Lord 
thinketh upon me." Our memorials are all before 
Him! 

In these words we have two things laid down, 
by which God will remember us. The first is 

1 Acts x. 4. 



CONSOLATIO. 43 

prayer. There is no true prayer thrown away ; 
there is no true prayer forgotten. 

It is a wonderful thought how far a prayer can 
go. Shoot up an arrow into the sky ; it will seem 
to mount very high, but it will soon fall back to 
the earth ; its own weight will be sufficient to 
draw it down. Uncage a lark and let it fly into 
the air, let it mount and sing till it is almost out 
of sight ; yet it cannot always rise ; the little 
warbler will be soon baffled and beaten back by 
the winds, or it will come to an atmosphere which 
it cannot breathe, and so will sink down with 
weary wing to the earth again. The eagle may 
soar skywards ; it may mount on its strong pin- 
ions, and tower far above the snow mountains ; 
but its daring ascent will soon find its limit, and 
as certainly as the little lark, it will return back 
to its nest in the rock. But send up a prayer ! 
send up a true prayer, and nothing will, nothing 
can, draw it back again. It will rise above the 
hills, above the clouds, above the stars, and pierce 
even to the very throne of God. The man that 
offered it remains below ; he is smiting on his 
breast like the poor publican, or in a prison like 
the chained Apostle ; but his prayer is rising high 
and rapid on its way; and neither the stars in 
their courses, nor the wandering winds, nor the 
prince of the power of the air, can prevent it from 
reaching; the heaven of its destination. Is this the 



44 COXSOLATIO. 

case of all prayers? Yes, undoubtedly, of all 
true prayers. Not of those which are formal and 
lifeless; not of lip prayers, however beautiful; 
not of all liturgical prayers, however sublime; not 
of all litanies, however solemn ; but of all prayers 
that are true, and humble, and earnest, and offer- 
ed up in the name of Jesus, with faith in His most 
blessed intercession. Pause, then, and consider 
the value of prayer. You may sow your corn- 
seed, but worms may destroy it, or moisture may 
waste and injure it, and all your expectations may 
be disappointed ; but let your seed be prayer, and 
let heaven be your field : sow there that precious 
grain, and there shall be no disappointment. God 
receives it, God guards it, God breathes upon it, 
and in due time it will return to your bosom 
again, with increase of thirty, or sixty, or even 
an hundred fold. 



Things to come are ours. 

The Christian's joy with regard to " things 
present" is this, that he has precisely that allot- 
ment which comes proportioned by a Father's 
wisdom, and accompanied by the blessing of a 
Father's love ; and this to the grateful heart of a 
true child of God, is better, infinitely better, than 



CONSOLATIO. 45 

all the surfeiting abundance of him who could 
cry, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for 
many years ; take thine ease, eat drink, and be 
merry." 

The Apostle, however, in the text (1 Cor. iii. 
21, 22, 23,) does not limit the Christian's posses- 
sion to u life and things present," but he declares 
that " death and things to come" are yours. 

This is indeed a striking peculiarity of the be- 
liever's lot. 

The man of the world may say, Things past 
have been mine, things present are mine ; but we 
defy him to add — none but the Christian can 
add — the triumphant conclusion, " Things to 
come shall be mine." How blessed a prerogative 
of every real follower of God. How marked the 
superiority of the Christian. Are you through 
Christ a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? and 
do you ever ask, What will the coming times bring 
with them ? How much of moral, how much of 
physical evil, how much of spiritual evil, lies 
brooding, dark, and lowering, beneath their wings? 
I know not, I cannot know, what will happen ; 
but of this I am assured, with a certainty which 
nothing can destroy; that He in whom I trust is 
the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; 
that He can and will control the last act of His 
providence, as surely and as mercifully as He has 
already done the first acts of His grace; and that 



46 CONSOLATIO. 

He, even He, has declared that " things to come " 
are mine, arranged for my happiness, sanctified 
to my service, blessed to my present and eternal 
welfare. Why then should I despond? Why 
should I even perplex myself? " Let the potsherds 
strive with the potsherds of the earth ; " "let the 
dead bury their dead." I will rest calmly and 
securely in the promises, and in the power of my 
Almighty Saviour, for "all power is given unto 
Him in heaven and in earth; " and what He has 
said, He can, and therefore He will, assuredly, 
bring to pass ; and overrule the mightiest events 
which can ever happen in the world, for the bene- 
fit even of me, the poorest and most insignificant 
of His children. Things past have not injured me, 
things present do not injure me, things to come 
cannot injure me ; this is the cool and dispassion- 
ate conviction of my soul. How unspeakably 
great are the privileges, how strong therefore 
should be the confidence of the Christian ! 

Are any among you, however, disposed to add, 
It is true, for I believe my Redeemer's promises, 
things present and things to come, however threat- 
ening and disastrous, are, and by the wonderful 
workings of his providence and grace, shall be 
my own ; but there is yet one enemy I dare not 
face, there is one hour for which my faithless 
heart still quakes : that hour is the hour which 
shall for ever call me hence, — that enemy is death. 



CONSOLATIO. 47 

Be of good courage, brethren; this constant infir- 
mity of our nature has not been forgotten in pro- 
mised privileges. It might have been sufficient 
to have included it in the " all things" which are 
ours ; it might have contented our hearts to know 
and to feel that if " things to come" be ours, 
death must necessarily be one, and therefore 
needed no separate enumeration; but " He, who 
came" expressly " to destroy him that had the 
power of death, and deliver them who, through 
fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to 
bondage," has not failed to speak, even to our 
very weakness and our fears, upon this deeply 
interesting point. He tells us distinctly, by the 
mouth of this holy Apostle, that even "death" is 
ours : ours not indeed to escape from, (that would 
be a faithless and a coward wish,) but ours to 
meet, ours to oppose, and ours to conquer, in the 
strength and through the merits of our Redeemer. 
Yes, the time must arrive when what has hap- 
pened to all shall happen to you. " When the 
grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall 
fail ; when the silver cord shall be loosed, and the 
golden bowl be broken ; when the dust shall re- 
turn to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall 
return unto God who gave it." What is not the 
assurance worth, which can stand against that 
hour which shall be calm, when all around are 
agitated ; peaceful, when all around are anxious, 



48 CONSOLATIO. 

and enable you to say, " I know whom I have 
believed, and am persuaded that He is able to 
keep that which I have committed unto Him 
against that day." "My flesh and my heart 
faileth;" there is no promise that they shall do 
otherwise, for they are of the earth, earthy — " My 
flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength 
of my heart, and my portion for ever." Thus, 
through the grace of your conquering Redeemer, 
death will be yours, its sting drawn out, its ter- 
rors quelled, its power for ever broken. And this 
to the faintest and weakest believer among you, 
as certainly and unquestionably, as to the strong- 
est and most advanced. If you are indeed placed 
upon a rock, though you stand but a single foot 
above the highest limit of the waves, you are as 
secure as he who stands ten thousand feet above 
your head, and that rock must fall before your 
life be perilled. So is it with the Rock of ages. 
Whether life or death, or things present, or things 
to come, all are yours, if you are Christ's, for 
Christ is God's. 



Cleave to the will of God, and turn with it 
constantly, as the weather-cock does with the 
wind. 



CONSOLATIO. 49 

Sanctifying meanings of affliction. 

It behoves us to treat suffering, whether in our- 
selves or others, in a much more solemn way 
than the generality even of serious Christians are 
wont to do. In itself it were a punishment for 
sin, oppressive, hopeless ; through God's mercy 
in Christ, it is His healing medicine, to burn out 
our wounds, and purify us for His presence. All 
are tokens of His presence ; the great Physician 
of our souls, looking graciously upon our spots 
and sores, checking our diseases ere they take 
deep root, or cutting deeply and healthfully into 
our very souls, if He have compassion upon us, 
when we have deeply offended Him. All, from 
the most passing pain of the body, to the most 
deep-seated anguish of the soul, are messengers 
from Him : some spread over life to temper our 
enjoyments, lest we seek our joys here; some 
following closely upon what is wrong; some 
gradually thickening upon us, if we neglect the 
first warnings; some coming suddenly in an 
instant, to startle people out of their lethargy and 
careless ways, and show them that the life which 
they are wasting is an earnest thing; some in the 
natural order of His Providence, as the loss of 
parents and of children; yet all manifesting, if 
we will regard it, His fatherly care, tempering 
our cup with pain and sorrow, as He sees most 
4 



50 CONSOLATIO. 

needful for us: all, in their degree, loosening our 
hold of this life; all leading up thitherward, 
where there shall be no pain ; all humbling us, 
as being creatures who require it, and deserve far 
more; all teaching us to look into ourselves, to 
see for what disease in us this medicine has been 
sent. 

All, then — pain, sickness, weariness, distress, 
languor, agony of mind and body, whether in 
ourselves or others, is to be treated reverently, 
seeing in it our Maker's hand passing over us, 
fashioning, by suffering, the imperfect or decayed 
substance of our souls. In itself, it were the 
earnest of hell; through His mercy in Christ, it 
is a purifying for heaven. It is the cross changed 
from the instrument of shame, the torture of male- 
factors, into the source of life; it is the cross ap- 
plied to us, washing away our filth by the spirit 
of judgment, and the spirit of burning. 

Every sorrow we meet with is a billow on this 
world's troublesome sea, which we must cross 
upon the cross, to bear us nearer to our home : 
we may not then remain where we were ; we may 
not, when God's u wave and storms have gone 
over us," be what we were before ; we may and 
must bear our parts in the world's duties, (but in 
proportion to its heaviness, and the loudness of 
God's warning voice in it,) not as we did in its 
joys ; each trouble is meant to relax the world's 



CONSOLATIO. 51 

hold over us, and our hold upon the world; each 
loss to make us seek our gain in heaven ; each 
bereavement to fix our hearts thither, whither we 
hope the treasures lent us are removed ; each 
chastisement to deepen our repentance for those 
sins for which God has so chastened us. Sadder 
far than the sight of any sorrow is it to see per- 
sons, after sorrow, become in all outward show 
what they were before; even as the impassive 
waters are troubled for a while by the stone which 
severs them, and then become calm and cold as 
heretofore ; sadder far, for it seems like casting 
aside God's healing hand, and rising up from 
under it when He is laying low. Rather, it is a 
Christian's joy, and comfort, and peace, and 
health, when God has laid him low, there to lie; 
humble, in proportion as God has humbled him; 
to lie low at the foot of His cross, trusting that, 
by the virtue of that cross, He will raise up those 
who lie willingly where He has placed them. It 
is well to be there where God wills ; and so, what- 
ever it be, sorrow bringing sin to remembrance, or 
agony for past sin, or dread of judgment, it is our 
wisdom not to vent it in excitement, much less to 
seek to distract it or waste it, but to take it calm- 
ly home to our bosoms, and treasure it there, 
jealously watching lest we lose one drop of its 
wholesome bitterness ; not anxious to escape sor- 
row, but anxious only not to lose its fruits. 



52 CONSOLATIO. 

In pain, sickness, trouble, methinks I hear 
God say, Take this medicine, exactly suited to 
the case, prepared and weighed by my own 
hands, and consisting of the choicest drugs which 
heaven affords. 



A most comfortable command. 

" My son, give me thine heart." 1 Who can 
fathom the breadth, and length, and depth of 
this one expression? It seems to say, " All 
that breathes within that heart is known to 
me. I know how vulnerable, how ill prepared it 
is to stand the shocks, and bear the assaults, of 
such a world as it now lives in. I know the 
sickening anguish, the deep distress, the killing 
disappointments it will feel, if it vainly assays to 
rest its sensibilities upon the creature, or to satisfy 
its thirst at streams that are rapidly drying up. 
That heart was made for me, and in me alone it 
can be happy. I can lodge it where no shaft can 
reach it. I can ' keep it safe as the apple of the 
eye, and hide it under the shadow of my wings. 7 
I can still its throbbings, calm its perturbations, 
and turn its sorrow into joy. Out of me it must 

1 Prov. xxiii. 26. 



CONSOLATIO. 53 

wander without peace, for I afn the haven where 
it would be. My son, then, give me thine heart. 7 ' 



Trial, ever the portion of the true disciple. 

Take up thy portion, then, Christian soul, and 
weigh it well, and learn to love it. Thou wilt 
find, if thou art Christ's, in spite of what the 
world fancies, that, after all, even at this day, 
endurance, in a special sense, is the lot of those 
who offer themselves to be servants to the King 
of Sorrows. There is an inward world, which 
none see but those who belong to it; and though 
the outside robe be many-colored, like Joseph's 
coat, inside it is lined with camels' hair, or sack- 
cloth, fitting those who desire to be one with Him 
who fared hardly in the wilderness, in the moun- 
tain, and on the sea. There is an inward world 
into which they enter who come near to Christ, 
though to men in general they seem the same as 
before. They hold the same place as before in 
the world's society ; their employments are the 
same, their ways, their comings in, and their 
goings out. If they were high in rank, they are 
still high ; if they were in active life, they are 
still active; if they were wealthy, they still have 
wealth. They have still great friends, powerful 



54 CONSOLATIO. 

connections, ample resources, fair name, in the 
world's eye; but if they have drunk of Christ's 
cup, and tasted the bread of His table in sinceri- 
ty, it is not with them as in times past. A change 
has come over them, unknown indeed to them- 
selves, except in its effects ; but they have a por- 
tion in destinies which other men have not; and 
as having destinies, they have conflicts also. 
They drank what looked like a draught of this 
world, but it associated them in hopes and fears, 
trials and purposes, above this world. They 
came as for a blessing, and they have found a 
work. They are soldiers in Christ's army; they 
fight against " things that are seen," and they 
have "all these things against them." To their 
surprise, as time goes on, they find that their lot 
is changed. They find that, in one shape or 
other, adversity happens to them. One blow falls, 
they are startled ; it passes over, it is well ; they 
expect nothing more. Another comes; they 
wonder. "Why is this?" they ask; they think 
that the first should be their security against the 
second; they bear it, however, and it passes too. 
Then a third comes; they also murmur: they 
have not yet mastered the great doctrine, that 
endurance is their portion. O, simple soul, is it 
not the law of thy being to endure, since thou 
earnest to Christ? Why earnest thou, but to 
endure? Why didst thou taste His heavenly 



CONSOLATIO. 55 

feast, but that it might work in thee? Why didst 
thou kneel beneath His hand, but that He might 
leave on thee the print of His wounds? Why 
wonder, then, that one sorrow does not buy off 
the rest? Does one drop of rain absorb the 
second? Does the storm cease because it has 
begun ? Understand thy place in God's kingdom ; 
and rejoice, not complain, that in thy day, thou 
hast thy lot with prophets and apostles. 

Judge not by appearance, but be sure that, 
even when things seem to brighten and smile 
upon God's true servants, there is much within 
to try them, though you see it not. Of old times 
they wore clothing of hair and sackcloth under 
rich robes. Men do not observe this custom now- 
a-days; but be quite sure still that there are as 
many sharp distresses underneath the visible garb 
of things as if they did. Many a secret ailment 
or scarcely observed infirmity exercises him who 
hasit, better than thorns or knotted cord. Many 
a silent grief lying like lead within the heart, or 
like cold ice upon the heart. Many a sad secret 
which a man dare not tell, lest he should find no 
sympathy ; many a laden conscience, laden be- 
cause the owner of it has turned to Christ, and 
which he would not have felt, had he kept from 
Him. Many an apprehension for the future, 
which cannot be spoken ; many a bereavement 
which has robbed the world's gifts of their 



56 COXSOLATIO. 

pleasant savour, and leads the heart but to sigh at 
the sight of them. No; never while the Church 
lasts, will the words of old Jacob be reversed, 
" All things here are against us ? ' but God ; but if 
God be for us, who can be really against us? If 
He is in the midst of us, how shall we be moved ? 
If Christ has died and risen again, what death 
can come upon us, though we may be made to 
die daily ? What sorrow, pain, humiliation, trial, 
but must end as His has ended, in a continual 
resurrection into His new world, and in a nearer 
and nearer approach unto Him? He pronounced 
a blessing over His Apostles, and they have 
scattered it far and wide over the earth unto this 
day. It runs as follows : " My peace I give unto 
you ; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." 
" These things I have spoken unto you, that in 
Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall 
have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have 
overcome the world." 



God does not offer me health, long life, plenty 
of worldly accommodations, respect, distinctions, 
principalities, universal empire; but, oh unutter- 
able grace! — Himself. 



COXSOLATIO. 57 

Consolation of the sympathy of Jesus Christ. 

u When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the 
Jews also weeping which came with her, he 
groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." 1 It is 
the very nature of compassion or sympathy; as 
the word implies, to " rejoice with those who 
rejoice, and weep with those who weep." We 
know it is so with men ; and God tells us He also 
is compassionate, and full of tender mercy. Yet 
we do not know well what this means ; for how 
can God rejoice or grieve? By the very perfec- 
tion of His nature, Almighty God cannot show 
sympathy, at least to the comprehension of beings 
of such limited minds as ours. He, indeed, is hid 
from us ; but if we were allowed to see Him, 
how could we discern, in the Eternal and un- 
changeable, signs of sympathy? Words and 
works of sympathy in another, affect and comfort 
the sufferer more even than the fruits of it. Now, 
we cannot see 'God's sympathy; and the Son of 
God, though feeling for us as great compassion as 
His Father, did not show it for us, while He re- 
mained in His Father's bosom. But when He 
took flesh, and appeared on earth, He showed us 
the Godhead in a new manifestation : He invest- 
ed Himself with a new set of attributes, those of 
our flesh; taking into Him a human soul and 

1 John xi. 33. 



58 CONSOLATIO. 

body, in order that thoughts, feelings, and affec- 
tions, might be His, which could respond to ours, 
and certify to us His tender mercy. When, then, 
our Saviour weeps from sympathy with Mary's 
tears, let us not say it is the love of a man over- 
come by natural feeling; it is the love of God, the 
bowels of compassion of the Almighty and Eternal 
condescending to appear as we are capable of re- 
ceiving it, in the form of human nature. Jesus 
wept, therefore, not merely from the deep thoughts 
of His understanding, but from spontaneous ten- 
derness ; from the gentleness and mercy, the 
encompassing loving-kindness, and exuberant 
fostering affection of the Son of God for His own 
work, the race of man. Their tears touched Him 
at once, as their miseries had brought Him down 
from heaven. His ear was open to them, and the 
sound of weeping went at once to His heart. 

Let us take to ourselves these comfortable 
thoughts, both in the contemplation of our own 
death, or upon the death of our friends. Where- 
ever faith in Christ is, there is Christ Himself. 
He said to Martha, " Believest thou this?" 
Wherever there is a heart to answer, "Lord, I 
believe," there Christ is present; there our Lord 
vouchsafes to stand, though unseen: whether 
over the bed of death, or over the grave; whether 
we ourselves are sinking, or those who are dear 
to us. Blessed be His name ! nothing can rob us 



CONSOLATIO. 59 

of this consolation : we will be as certain, through 
His grace, that He is standing over us in love, as 
though we saw Him. We will not, after our ex- 
perience of Lazarus's history, doubt an instant 
that He is thoughtful about us. He knows the 
beginnings of our illness, though He keeps at a 
distance. He knows when to remain away, and 
when to draw near. He notes down the advanc- 
ing of it, and the stages. He tells truly when His 
friend Lazarus is sick, and when he sleeps. We 
all have experience of this in the narrative before 
us ; and henceforth, so be it ! will never complain 
at the course of His Providence. Only, we will 
beg of Him an increase of faith, a more lively per- 
ception of the curse under which the world lies, 
and of our own personal demerits ; a more under- 
standing view of the mystery of His cross ; a more 
devout and implicit reliance on the virtue of it, 
and a more confident persuasion that He will 
never put upon us more than we can bear, — never 
afflict His brethren with any woe, except for their 
own highest benefit. 



The LorcFs second advent, the cure for care and sorrow. 

"Let your moderation be known unto all men. 
The Lord is at* hand. Be careful for nothing; 
but in every thing by prayer and supplication 



60 CONSOLATIO. 

with thanksgiving let your requests be made 
known unto God. And the peace of God. which 
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts 
and minds through Christ Jesus." 1 Why does 
the Apostle counsel thus? His object is to 
produce moderation. The way to produce it, 
is to rid yourself of anxiety. If I am not 
anxious whether my cup be full, or whether it be 
empty, I cannot be immoderate in my desires. 
If I am letting my mind lie passive on the sea of 
God's providential dispensations, then come storm, 
come calm; whatever it be, I am at rest, I am 
tranquil, I am at anchor: my cable is faith, the 
rock I am tied to, is the will of my Father in 
heaven. There is a blessed peace in this state of 
holy acquiescence. It is the anxiety about so 
many unimportant things, that makes life so 
troubled. It is the fixing our minds upon this 
thing or that thing, and determining with our- 
selves that they are absolutely indispensable for 
our happiness, that makes us so unhappy. We 
jeopardy our peace, directly that we determine 
any earthly thing to be indispensable for our wel- 
fare. It is astonishing how many barks of happi- 
ness are wrecked in this way : it is quite amazing 
how many stately vessels of Christian hope, if not 
quite wrecked, are stranded, or tossed and beaten 

1 Phil. iv. 5. 



CONSOLATIO. Gl 

about among these quicksands of unrestrained 
desire. "This thing," says one; " give me but 
this thing, or take from me but this sorrow, or lead 
me but out of this one difficulty, or remove from 
me but this rival, and then my soul shall be at 
peace." Unhappy they who thus imagine ! How 
contrary is all this to the prayer we daily offer, 
" Thy will be done." Beloved brethren, strive 
to think every thing a blessing which God sends 
you, — every thing injurious which He denies you. 
Be not anxious about earthly matters, whether 
they be great or small ; and in the end you will 
find every earthly thing too small to make you 
anxious. 

Will the thought of the period of the second 
Advent, help the Christian man to moderation? 
The text tells us that it will. Why, then, and 
how will it do it? The answer is simple. One 
great and filling thought will drive out all smaller 
and more troubling anxieties. The expectation 
of the Creator will calm and displace those vain 
expectations, which we are constantly forming, 
of the creature. If I am looking anxiously for 
Christ's coming, I cannot look very anxiously for 
the fulfilment of any earthly hopes. A full cup, 
or a full purse, or marriage blessings, or a home 
to rest my body in, or a friend's bosom for my 
heart to repose on, or grandeur, or pomp, or 
power, or place — it is impossible that I should 



62 COXSOLATIO. 

inordinately crave any of these things, if I am in 
true earnestness looking for my Lord and Saviour. 
They are many of them great blessings; flowers 
of innocent fragrance, planted along the path we 
tread: but they are not necessary; we can do 
without them. And if the Lord be our hope, if 
we are waiting for His coming, looking for it, 
longing for it; if the dawning of it seem to our 
glad hearts already glimmering over the hills; if 
the wonderful march of mighty events be like the 
solemn, but " beautiful feet" of our God upon 
"the mountains;" if we are thus "looking for 
and hasting unto" that glorious appearing, how 
is it possible that worldly cares should make us 
over anxious? " Nay, my soul," so reasons such 
a blessed expectant; "nay, my soul, one thing 
alone is needful; trouble not thyself about this 
loss, or that gain ; smile not too joyously, weep 
not too sadly ; for smiles, and tears, and loss, and 
gain, shall all be swallowed up in the glory, and 
forgotten in the overwhelming presence of thy 
returning Lord." 

But it is not by thoughts like these, however 
good and great, that anxious care can be alto- 
gether overcome. The Apostle gives us a further 
direction; it is to pray. "In everything by 
prayer and supplication, let your requests be 
made known unto God." 

Now, it is the Spirit that teaches us to pray : 



CONSOLATIO. 03 

it is the name of Christ that we plead, and by the 
power of the Spirit that we are enabled accept- 
ably to do so. But prayer links us to God: it is 
a chain of glory reaching from earth to heaven ; 
the wants of man pass like electricity up its shin- 
ing links, and heaven in all its power and conso- 
lation descends upon them. This is the reason 
why the Apostle counsels us to make our requests 
known unto God; he counsels this as the way to 
peace, for the telling of our wants and our sor- 
rows to God is the sure way to obtain consola- 
tion and supply. The assurance of this fact is 
built on the eternal truth of God's faithful charac- 
ter; tee cannot go to God in earnest seeking with- 
out success. " Ask and ye shall have, seek and 
ye shall find,' 7 is the unalterable law of heaven. 
M Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth 
for you," is the hand-writing of an Apostle, and 
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. We do well 
to take this blessed counsel, and hide it in our 
bosom. We should put it away as a cure for 
heart's trouble, as men put away some valuable 
receipt for some dangerous disorder. In '-every 
thing*' remember, not in one thing, not in two, 
not in great things only, but in every the smallest 
thing that tries and perplexes you,- "let your re- 
quests be made known unto God." If a child is 
hurt, it runs to its mother, and tells her of the 
injury it has received: if it is in want, it goes to 



G4 COXSOLATIO. 

its parents to relieve it: or if in riper youth it is 
anxious about the future, troubled, thoughtful, 
perplexed, it goes to its father, and pours all its 
troubles into his heart. But the things of earth 
are but the patterns of things in the heavens. 
Every parent is to his children a type of God to 
his. This is our encouragement. We are to 
come with expectation, praying for help; we are 
to come also with " supplication," i. e. with ear- 
nest prayer, with clasped hands and bended knees, 
prostrating ourselves before the mercy throne. 
We are to come with "thanksgiving" also; we 
are to remember how much we possess, although 
there be so much that we want ; how much we 
are to bless God for, while there are so many 
burdens which we beg Him to remove. We must 
remember what an exceeding privilege it is to be 
allowed, nay, invited to pray; what an unspeak- 
able blessing to be assured that we have in Him, 
in whose name we pray, a most tender and sym- 
pathizing Friend, as well as an Almighty and 
all-prevailing Intercessor. Even in our deepest 
sorrows we have abundant cause to pray " with 
thanksgiving." 

It may seem to some as if we almost lowered 
the idea of the majestic God, by making Him so 
entirely the depository of our wants; but the ex- 
pression of the text justifies the most unbounded 
confidence, so only our confidence be mingled with 



CONSOLATIO. 65 

reverence. Nay, more, we must remember that 
it is not we who would draw God down to our 
low wants ; He has descended Himself to the last 
level of our weakness. He is in Christ the God- 
man. His manhood is the basis of our trust for 
sympathy ; his Godhead is our confidence for 
power and help. As man, there is no sorrow 
which we can feel, that does not touch Him ; as 
God, there is no cry which we can make for help, 
which He is not Almighty to answer. Whilst in 
His almightiness, " He telleth the number of the 
stars, and calleth them all by their names;" in 
His meek and tender compassion, " He healeth 
the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." 



The love of God, all satisfying. 

The good which we receive from believing in 
the love of God, manifested in Christ Jesus, is 
analogous to that which we receive from believ- 
ing in the worth and kindness of a human friend, 
only that the one is as nothing in comparison 
with the other ; it is nothing else than the enjoy- 
ment of God in Himself and in His creatures. It 
is not any thing that we get on account of our 
loving Him ; but it is the happiness of loving 

5 



66 CONSOLATIO. 

Him, and knowing ourselves to be loved by Him ; 
it is a dwelling on, and in His high perfections : 
it is giving Him our perfect sympathy, and re- 
ceiving His : it is knowing Him as the infinite 
God, and yet as an affectionate Father ; as a 
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. It is 
the assurance which the heart draws from 
His love in giving His Son, and perhaps from 
some more special and personal tokens of that 
love, that He will never leave us nor forsake us ; 
that He will never cease to love us with a love 
which will be, and must be, our satisfying, and 
filling, and delighting portion, through all eternity. 
It is the joyful and confident anticipation of the 
day when the mystery of God shall be accom- 
plished, and the glory of the Lord shall be reveal- 
ed, and when the children of God shall be glad, 
and rejoice for ever in the new heavens and the 
new earth which their Father shall create. It is 
the discovering that all the works of creation, — 
all events, time and space, eternity and infinity, 
every thing is full of that God who loved us, and 
gave himself for us ; and who, in giving us Him- 
self, freely gives us all things. 



CONSOLATIO. 67 

God's moral training of us ; and self-crucifixion. 

"Count it all joy when you fall into divers trials, 
for the trial of your faith givetk it endurance ; ?? l 
that is, works the Divine principle into the 
very substance of the mind. This surely is the 
great purpose of Providence in the appointment 
of events with regard to individuals. Not a 
sparrow falleth to the ground without God, and 
not an event happens without a particular refer- 
ence to the state and character of the person to 
whom it happens. We have thus every day of 
our lives many direct, and special messages from 
God to our souls. They are messages from God, 
and surely we show Him small respect if we 
treat His messages as trifling things. They are 
(iill of importance ; they are opportunities given 
to us of dying unto self, and living unto God, and 
holding communion with Him. In every one of 
them God says to us, "Seek ye my face;' 5 and 
we ought to be ever ready with our answer, 
" Thy face, Lord, will we seek." With what an 
awakenedness of attention should we live, if we 
really believed that every event is a voice from 
God, and an opportunity of dying unto self, 
which cannot be neglected without great guilt; 
and great loss to our souls. My dear reader, allow 

1 James, i. 2. 



68 CONSOLATIO. 

me to repeat this to you. Every event that hap- 
pens to us strengthens either the love of God or 
the principle of self within us, because on every 
event we exercise our judgment or our feelings; 
and this we must do either according to the will 
of God, or according to our own will. 

Thus we can never stand still for a moment ; 
there is no rest from the conflict; we are con- 
tinually taking part either with God or against 
God. There are but two ways in which man can 
walk towards eternity ; the narrow way, which 
leads to life ; and the broad way, which leads to 
destruction. The first is the way of self-forget- 
ting, and God-pleasing ; the second is the way of 
self-pleasing and God-forgetting. He is either 
resisting self or not. He may be doing nothing 
decidedly wrong, according to the world's esti- 
mate of duty ; but unless he is systematically 
denying himself, and taking up his cross daily, 
he cannot be Christ's disciple; for there is no room 
for Christ's love in a heart which refuses to give 
up self. Oh ! if we felt as we ought, that that 
only is good which draws us near to God, and 
that self is indeed the great bar which divides us 
from God, and keeps us at a distance from Him, 
how easily should we be reconciled to those events 
which cross and thwart the principle of self, see- 
ing that they weaken the bar which separates us 
from God, our only real good ; we should then 



CONSOLATIO. (59 

know that there is no evil but sin, and that every- 
thing else must be a blessing, if it is received in 
the spirit of prayer. 



The lessons taught, oy God's delay, in answering our 
prayers. 

The lesson taught us by the woman of Canaan 1 
has many aspects, of which the first, perhaps, is 
this; that by every mark and token which the 
stricken soul can read, He to whom she sought is 
the only true portion and rest of every human 
heart; that He would teach us this by all the dis- 
cipline of outward things; that the ties of family 
life are meant thus to train up our weak affections 
till they be fitted to lay hold on Him ; that the 
eddies and sorrows of life are meant to sweep us 
from its flowery banks, that in its deep strong 
currents we may fly to Him ; that for this end 
He opens to us little by little the mystery of 
trouble round us, the mystery of evil within us, 
that we may fly from others and ourselves, to 
Him. 

There is this further lesson also, that He will 
most surely be found by those who do seek after 

1 Matthew, xv. 23. 



70 CONSOLATIO. 

Him ; and this is taught us here, not by a mere 
general assurance that we shall be heard, but in a 
way which enters far more practically into those 
difficulties with which every one who has striven 
to pray earnestly, finds earnest prayer beset ; for 
here we see why it often happens that really 
earnest and sincere men seem, for a time at least, 
to pray in vain; why their "Lord, help me," is 
not answered by a word. It is not that Christ is 
not near us ; it is not that His ear is heavy ; it is 
not that the tenderness of His sympathy is blunt- 
ed ; it is a part of His plan of faithfulness and 
wisdom. He has a double purpose herein ; He 
would bless by it both us and all His Church. 

How could His Church have been taught always 
to pray, and not to faint, better than by such a 
narrative as this? How many a fainting soul has 
gathered strength for one more hour of patient 
supplication, by thinking on this Canaanitish 
mother, on her seeming rejection, on her blessed 
success at last ! 

And for ourselves, too, there is a special mercy 
in these long-delayed blessings ; for it is only by 
degrees that the work within us can be perfected ; 
it is only by steps, small and imperceptible as we 
are taking them, yet one by one leading us to 
unknown heights, that we can mount up to the 
golden gate before us. The ripening of these pre- 
cious fruits must not be forced. We have many 



CONSOLATIO. 71 

lessons to learn, and we can learn them but one 
by one ; and much are we taught by these delay- 
ed answers to our prayers. By them the treasure 
of our hearts is cleared from dross, as in the fur- 
nace-heat ; our earthly will is purified and bowed ; 
the passionate fervency of unchastened prayer is 
deepened into the strong breath of humble suppli- 
cation ; we " wait upon the Lord who hideth His 
face; " the frowardness of our hearts is checked ; 
patience has her perfect work ; we are kept look- 
ing up to Christ; we watch Him by faith, and by 
His grace, even as we hang upon Him, we grow 
like unto Him ; His* secret work goes on in us ; 
we see Him as once we saw Him not, amidst the 
shadows of this busy life of trifles ; we hear His 
voice, for we are used to watch for it; we dwell 
in Him and He in us. 

Nor can we ever pray in vain, if we will but 
persevere in praying. When we gain not our 
suit at once, we are ever too ready to desist ; 
therefore is it that the Lord withholds the answer, 
that we may learn to persevere in asking ; that 
we may grow to trust His love, to know what 
He is to us, yea, what He is to all who wait upon 
Him. 

He would but teach us to come to Him at once 
for all, and not to leave Him until we have won 
our suit. He would but have us know that we 
may thus deal with Him: that we want no Inter- 



72 CONSOLATIO. 

cessor with Him, who is Himself the true and 
only Intercessor; that nothing is to be interposed 
between our souls and Him; that He is the por- 
tion of those souls, and that we may go straight 
to Him. 

Only let us, then, deal thus with Him ; let us 
open to Him our grief, our sin, our shame, our 
difficulties ; let us show Him our need ; tell Him 
where, "at home," hidden from the rude eye of 
the world, but known to Him, is the " young 
daughter grievously afflicted;" plead with Him 
by His covenant of tears ; and, even as we enter 
with Him into that cloud, on us too shall come 
forth the sense of a presence which this world 
knows not; and a voice shall speak to us which 
the world cannot hear; and we shall be alone 
with Him ; and He shall call us by our name, 
and we shall be His. 



The sleep of Deaths and the absence of Jesus. 

"Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." l What a 
sweet title is here, both of death and of Laza- 
rus ! Death is a sleep ; Lazarus is our friend. 
Lo, He says not "my friend," but ours; to 

1 John, xi. 11. 






CONSOLATIO. 73 

draw them first into a gracious familiarity and 
communion of friendship with Himself: for what 
doth this import but M Ye are my friends, and 
Lazarus is both my friend and yours:' 7 our 
friend. O meek and merciful Saviour, that dis- 
dainest not to stoop so low as that, whilst Thou 
thonghtest it no robbery to be equal with God, 
Thou thonghtest it no disparagement to match 
Thyself with weak and wretched men ! Our 
friend Lazarus ! There is a kind of purity in 
friendship. There may be love where there is 
the most inequality : but friendship supposes 
pairs; yet the Son of God says of the sons of 
men, "Our friend Lazarus." Oh! what a high 
and happy condition is this for mortal men to as- 
pire unto, that the God of heaven should not be 
ashamed to own them for friends. Neither saith 
He now abruptly, "Lazarus our friend is dead," 
but " Lazarus our friend sleepeth." 

O Saviour ! none can know the estate of life 
or death so well as Thou, that art the Lord of 
both. It is enough that Thou tellest us that death 
is no other than sleep; that which was wont to 
pass for the cousin of death, is now itself. All 
this while we have mistaken the case of our dis- 
solution : we took it for an enemy, it proves a 
friend; there is pleasure in that wherein we sup- 
posed horror. Who is afraid, after the weary toils 
of the dav, to take his rest bv night'? or what is 



74 CONSOLATIO. 

more refreshing to the spent traveller than a sweet 
sleep? It is our infidelity, our impreparation, that 
makes death any other than advantage. Even so, 
Lord, when Thou seest I have toiled enough, let 
me sleep in peace ; and when Thou seest I have 
slept enough, awake me as Thou didst thy Laza- 
rus : " but I go to awake him." 

The absence of our Saviour from the death-bed 
of Lazarus was not casual, but voluntary ; yea, 
He is not only willing with it, but glad of it; "I 
am glad for your sakes that I was not there." 
How contrary may the affections of Christ and 
ours be, and yet be both good ! The two worthy 
sisters were much grieved at our Saviour's ab- 
sence, as doubting it might savour of some neg- 
lect. Christ was glad of it, for the advantage of 
His disciples' faith. I cannot blame them that 
they were thus sorry; I cannot but bless Him, 
that He was thus glad. The gain of their faith 
in so Divine a miracle, was more than could be 
countervailed by their momentary sorrow. God 
and we are not the like affected by the same 
events: He laughs where we mourn; He is an- 
gry where we are pleased. 

The difference of the affections arises from the 
difference of the objects which Christ and they 
apprehend in the same occurrence. Why are the 
sisters sorrowful? Because upon Christ's absence 
Lazarus died. Why was Jesus glad He was not 



CONSOLATIO. 75 

there? For the benefit which He saw would 
accrue to their faith. There is much variety of 
prospect in every act, according to the 'several in- 
tentions and issues thereof; yea, even in the very 
same eyes. The father sees his son combating in 
a duel for his country: he sees blows and wounds 
on the one side; he sees renown and victory on 
the other ; he grieves at the wounds, he rejoices 
at the honour. Thus doth God in all our afflic- 
tions : He sees our tears, and hears our groans, 
and pities us ; but withal He looks upon our pa- 
tience, our faith, our crown, and is glad that we 
are afflicted. O God ! why should we not con- 
form our diet unto thine? When we lie in pain 
and extremity, we cannot but droop under it ; but 
do we find ourselves increased in true mortifica- 
tion, in patience, in hope, in a constant reliance 
on thy mercies? Why are we not more joyed in 
this, than dejected with the other? Since the 
least grain of the increase of grace is more worth, 
than can be equalled with whole pounds of bodily 
vexation. 



The blessedness of acting as in Gotfs presence. 

He who is conscious of no witness but his fel- 
low-men, and who feels that he has no part to act 
but in the eyes of the world, has lost all cheering 



76 CONSOLATIO. 

motive to right conduct, when cut off by circum- 
stances from human converse. In sleepless nights 
and days of languor upon his couch, he has no 
employment but to count the hours; no com- 
panions but restlessness and pain. All worth 
living for to him has fled ; his occupation is gone : 
a burthen to himself, and still left to himself, when 
"in the night he communes with his own heart, 
and searches out his spirit;" what can he find 
there but the mournful conviction, that he is 
" clean forgotten, as a dead man out of mind;" 
that he is " become like a broken vessel?" 

How different is the experience of that man 
who knows that he is a " fellow-citizen with the 
saints, and of the household of God! •' Though 
cast into the deepest shade of what the world calls 
solitude, he is never less alone than when alone : 
he is cheered by the consciousness that God is 
"about his path, and about his bed, and spieth 
out all his ways : " he has a never-failing and 
animating motive for the right performance of 
every, the most trifling action; for all is done in 
the presence of that Being " in whose favor is 
life," and whose smile is the sunshine of the world 
of spirits. In the chamber of disease, in silence, 
and in darkness, he has still his duties to perform, 
his part to act, his battles to fight, and victories 
to gain ; and all this not only in the sight of God, 
but in the view of that cloud of witnesses, before 



CONSOLATIO. 77 

whom every candidate for an immortal crown 
runs his heavenward race. He feels that no silent 
submission to his cross, no patient endurance of 
his pain, no tear of penitence, or sigh that breathes 
towards heaven, is forgotten before God : nay, he 
is assured that if God approves, angels and min- 
istering spirits rejoice in witnessing how his 
"light afflictions, which are but for a moment, 
work for him a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." 

Such is the only solitude which the man of 
faith and prayer can know; such are the scenes 
which open to his view in the loneliness of his 
closet; such the stars and constellations which 
appear when the light of this world is withdrawn, 
and its sun goes down. 






The fruitfulness of the branch in Christ increased by 
prayer. 

"Furthermore, we have had fathers of our 
flesh, who corrected us, and we gave them rever- 
ence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection 
unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they 
verily for a few days corrected us, after their own 
pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be 
partakers of His holiness." l There is a rever- 

1 Heb. xii. 9. 



78 CONSOLATIO. 

ence due to earthly parents, and children are 
required to submit to their correction, although 
herein they often consult their own will and 
pleasure more than their children's profit. And 
is not greater reverence due to the Father of 
our spirits, and shall we not submit to His cor- 
rections, especially since His design in them 
is to promote the greatest dignity and highest 
happiness of His children, even to make them 
partakers of His holiness ? for to partake, is not 
only to give them a title to, but also to give them 
possession of, to communicate, to have fellowship 
with Him, to share with Him His holiness. And 
the Heavenly Husbandman, purposing to make 
the branches very fruitful, has provided effectual 
means; among which the chief is His fatherly 
correction. This He sends to all His children, 
and in the tenderest love. He would have them 
to bring forth much fruit, that herein He may be 
glorified; holy fruit, produced by His care and 
culture, and ripened by daily communications of 
His grace; therefore, He appoints many heavy 
trials and crosses, by which He designs to bring 
them not only to believe in His love, but also to a 
growing enjoyment of it. He would communi- 
cate to them an increase of its blessings: He 
would have them nearer to Himself, and more 
like to Himself; holy as He is holy — not in de- 
gree, but in likeness : He would teach them more 



CONSOLATIO. 79 

submission to His will, for which he wisely and 
mercifully suits the cross: He would improve 
their love to Him, which He does by manifesting 
His to them ; therefore, He sends his cross to 
deaden their hearts to other love, that He may 
give them a happier sense of His; and His chil- 
dren have found suffering times blessed times; 
they never had such nearness to their Father, 
such holy freedom with Him, and such heavenly 
refreshments from Him, as under the cross: it 
only took away what stopped the increase of His 
happiness, which thereby was made more spirit- 
ual and exalted. The cross, thus sanctified, is 
the greatest blessing on this side heaven, because 
by it the Father keeps His children in the closest 
communion that they have with Him upon earth : 
by it He purges them, makes them fruitful, and 
partakers of His holiness : by it He crucifies the 
life of sense, deadens them to the world, mortifies 
their lusts and passions ; and by it, as the out- 
ward man perisheth, the inward man is renewed 
day by day. Most blessed renewal ! Daily, the 
Father communicates (and by means of the cross) 
new life, new strength, and new comfort, to the 
inward man. By the right spirit renewed within 
him, he learns the necessity of the daily cross ; he 
sees the merciful appointment of it, to teach resig- 
nation to the Father's holy will, — to. work a con- 
formity to the first-born among many brethren, 



80 COXSOLATIO. 

both in suffering and by suffering. — to bring in 
sensible experience of the Father's support and 
comfort. What blessings are these ? How great ! 
how precious ! to be branches in the vine, and to 
have the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the 
husbandman, who grafts them into Him. Oh. 
what an infinite mercy is this ! And to be under 
His special care, faithfully watched over, in 
order to remove every thing hurtful, and to be- 
stow every thing useful, this love passeth under- 
standing. And to have this love to feast upon, 
in the absence of other comforts ; to have them 
taken away only to make room for this : to enjoy 
this most plentifully, even under troubles and 
afflictions; and to be only purged by them in 
order to bring forth much fruit: these are tri- 
umphs of Divine love. 



The brethren of Christ, men of sorrow. Perfection, 
through suffering. 

Nothing so likens us to the example of Christ, 
as suffering. It seems to be an inevitable law 
arising out of the fall of the old, and the perfect- 
ing of the new creation; first, that the second 
Adam should be " a man of sorrows : " and, next, 



CONSOLATIO. £t{ 

that we should be conformed to Him in this as- 
pect of His perfection: "It became Him for 
whom are all things, and by whom are all things. 
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the 
Captain of their salvation perfect through suffer- 
ings." And it is not more in relation to sanctity 
than to sufferings, that St. Paul says that we 
were predestinated " to be conformed to the image 
of His Son. that he might be the first-born among 
many brethren :" and therefore. " What son is he 
whom the father chasteneth not 8 " and argues 
that to be free from chastisement, is an awful 
exception, rather to be feared than coveted, as 
clouding the bright though keen tokens of son- 
ship, which are seen in them that suffer. There 
is a breadth and universality in this reasoning 
which seems to force upon us the conviction, that 
no true member of His body, who was made per- 
fect through sufferings, shall pass out of life with- 
out at some time drinking of the cup that He 
drank of, and being baptized with the baptism 
that He was baptized with. And, indeed, if we 
look into the lives of His saints, we shall see that 
this is simply true. All that suffer are not there- 
fore saints. Alas ! far from it. for many suffer 
without the fruits of sanctity ; but all saints, in 
some one time, and some way and measure, have 
entered into the mystery of suffering. And this 
throws light upon a very perplexing thought in 
6 



82 CONSOLATIO. 

which we sometimes entangle ourselves : I mean 
the wonderful fact, that oftentimes the same per- 
sons are as visibly marked by sorrow as by sanc- 
tity. We often see the holiest of Christ's servants 
afflicted with a depth and multiplication of suffer- 
ings beyond other men. They seem never to 
pass out of the shadow of affliction : no sooner is 
one gone off than another has come up; " the 
clouds return after the rain;" sorrow gathers unto 
sorrow; sickness gives way before sickness; fears 
are thrust out by fears ; anxieties are only lost in 
anxieties ; they seem to be a mark for all the 
storms and sorrows of adversity; the world 
esteems them to be " stricken, smitten of God, 
and afflicted :" even religious people are perplexed 
at their trials. When we see eminently holy per- 
sons suddenly bereaved, or suffering sharp bodily 
anguish, and their trials long drawn out, or mul- 
tiplied by succession, we often say, " How strange 
and dark is this dispensation ! Who would have 
thought that one so pure, so patient, and resigned, 
should have been so visited and overwhelmed by 
strokes? If they had been slack, or lukewarm, 
or backward, or self-willed, or entangled in world- 
ly affections, we could better reach the meaning 
of this mysterious trial; but who more earnest 
and useful in all good works ; who so advanced 
in holiness, so nigh to the kingdom of heaven as 
they?" And yet all this shows how shallow and 



CONSOLATIO. 83 

blind our faith is; for we know little even of those 
we know best; we readily overrate their charac- 
ters; at all events, it is far otherwise in the esteem 
of God than in our judgment: our thoughts are 
not His thoughts ; we set up a poor, dim, depress- 
ed standard of perfection ; and we should miser- 
ably defraud even those we love most, if it were 
in our power to mete out their trials by our 
measures : we little know what God is doing, and 
how can we know the way? And we often think 
the sorrows of the saints are sent for their punish- 
ment, . when they are sent for their perfection. 
Either way we are greatly ignorant. They may 
need far more of purification than we think; they 
may be suffering for an end higher than purifica- 
tion, — for some end which includes purification 
and unknown mysteries besides. We forget that 
Christ suffered, and why; and how He learned 
obedience, and what that obedience was. He 
was all-pure ; suffering could find no more to 
cleanse, than sin could find to fasten upon. The 
Prince of this world "had nothing" in Him, yet 
whose sorrow is like unto His sorrow, " where- 
with the Lord afflicted" Him " in the day of his 
fierce anger?" — and that, (great as the mystery 
must ever be,) not only and altogether as a vica- 
rious suffering, but that in the truth of our man- 
hood, He might learn " obedience by the things 
that he suffered." He was made "perfect" by 



84 CONSOLATIO. 

sufferings, and that perfection, whatsoever it be, 
has an ineffable depth of meaning. It was not 
only a sacerdotal perfection, by consecration to 
the priesthood of Melchisedec, but something of 
which that was the formal expression and mani- 
festation ; a great spiritual reality; a perfection 
of holiness, knowledge, obedience, will, and sym- 
pathy : this was the perfection, in truth and 
spirit, of " the one mediator between God and 
man, the man Christ Jesus;" and of this perfec- 
tion, after the measures of a creature, and the 
proportions of our mere manhood, are the saints 
made to partake ; they are purified, that they 
may be perfect : and therefore the sorrows of the 
holiest minds are the highest approaches to the 
mind of Christ, and are full of a meaning which 
is dark to us only from its exceeding brightness. 
Our weak faith, which can read the earlier teach- 
ing of affliction,* goes blind when it follows the 
mystery of sorrow upward to the perfection of 
Christ. 

And therefore, when we look at the sufferings 
of pure and holy minds, let us rather stand in 
awe as being called to behold, as it were, a 
shadow of our Redeemer's sorrows. The holier 
they are that suffer, the higher is the end for 
which they are afflicted. It may be they are 
learning inscrutable things of the same order with 
those which the Apostle saw in ecstasy. Even 



CONSOLATIO. 85 

with bleeding hearts and deep-drawn prayers for 
their consolation, let ns try to believe that God is 
endowing them with surpassing tokens of love, 
and with pledges of exceeding glory. 

And for ourselves, let us be sure when we 
suffer, that for chastisement and for purification 
we need more a thousand fold than all He lays 
upon us. The heaviest and the sharpest of our 
sorrows is only just enough to heal us. "He 
doth not ivillingly afflict." Let us remember, 
too, that sufferings do not sanctify ; they are only 
seasons of sanctification ; their end will be for 
good or ill, as we bear and as we use them : they 
are no more than times of invitation to diligent 
toil, like the softness of the earth after a keen and 
piercing shower : they hold in check, for a time, 
our spiritual faults, and prepare our hearts to re- 
ceive and to retain deeper and sharper impres- 
sions of the likeness of our Lord. Let us count 
them precious, blessed seasons, though dim and 
overcast ; seasons of promise and of springing 
freshness, tokens of His nearness and purpose to 
cleanse us for His own. u Blessed are ye that 
weep now." He that is greatly tried, if he be 
learning obedience, is not far from the kingdom 
of God. Our heavenly Father is perfecting His 
work in us, laying in the last touches with His 
wise and gentle hand. He that perfected His 
own Son through sufferings, has brought many 



86 CONSOLATIO. 

sons to glory by the same rough road, even by 
the " way that is desert." He is bringing you 
home to Himself. Do not shrink, because the 
path is broken and solitary, for the way is short, 
and the end is blessed. 



The mistakes of suffering. 

Let us learn what is the true point of sight 
from which to look at all the trials of life. We 
hear people perpetually lamenting, uttering pas- 
sionate expressions of grief at visitations which 
they say have come upon them unlooked-for, and 
stunned them by their suddenness : one has lost 
his possessions, another his health, another his 
powers of sight or hearing, another "the desire 
of his eyes," parents, children, husbands, wives, 
friends ; each sorrowing for their own, and all 
alike viewing their affliction from the narrow 
point of their own isolated being; they seem to 
be hostile invasions of their peace, mutilations of 
the integrity of their lot, untimely disruptions of 
their fondest ties, and the like. Much as we 
speak of violent deviations of nature from her 
laws, and of the mysterious agency of devastat- 
ing powers, so we talk of the destruction of our 
fortune, the breaking up of our happiness, the 



CONSOLATIO. 37 

wreck of our hopes. Now all this loose and faith- 
less language arises from our not recognizing the 
great law to which all these are to be referred. 
It is no more than this: that God is disposing of 
what has been offered up to Him in sacrifice ; as, 
for instance, when a father or mother bewails the 
taking away of a child, have they not forgotten 
that he was not their own? Did they not offer 
him at the font? Did not God promise to receive 
their oblation? What has He done more than 
taken them at their word ? They prayed that 
He would make their child to be His "own child 
by adoption ; " and He has not only heard, but 
answered their prayers. Have they not perpetu. 
ally, since that day, asked for him the kingdom 
of heaven, even as the mother of Zebedee's chil- 
dren came and besought that her two sons might 
sit, the one on his right hand, and the other on 
his left, in his kingdom ? Like them, they knew 
not what they asked; they were desiring a high 
blessing, awful in its height ; for which, if grant- 
ed, they may have to go sorrowing because God 
has heard their prayer, and a sword has pierced 
through their own soul also. In an especial man- 
ner this seems true of the death of infants ; they 
were offered up to Him, and He took them to 
Himself. So that they be His, who dare lament 
that He has chosen the place where they shall 
stand and minister before Him? Little, it may 



88 C0NS0LAT1O. 

be. the glad mother thought as she stood beside 
the font, what she was then doing; little did she 
forecast what was to come, or read the meaning of 
her own acts and prayers. And so likewise, when 
any true servants of Christ are taken away, what 
is it but a token of His favourable acceptance 
of their self-oblation? They have been His from 
baptism, and He has granted them a long season 
of tarrying in this outer court of His temple. But 
now, at length, the time is come ; and when we 
see them " bow the head, and give up the ghost," 
is it not our slowness of heart that makes even 
our eyes also to be holden, so as not to see who 
is standing nigh, conforming them to His own 
great sacrifice? While they were with us they 
were not ours, but His ; they were permitted to 
abide with us, and to gladden our hearts awhile ; 
but they were living sacrifices, and ever at the 
point of being caught up to heaven. 

And so, lastly, in all that befalls ourselves, we 
too are not our own, but His ; all that we call 
ours is His ; and when He takes it from us — 
first one loved treasure, then another, till He 
makes us poor, and naked, and solitary — let us 
not sorrow that we are stripped of all we love, 
but rather rejoice for that God accepts us : let us 
not think that we are left here, as it were, 
unseasonably alone, but remember that, by our 
bereavements, we are in part translated to the 



CONSOLATIO. 89 

world unseen. He is calling ns away, and send- 
ing on our treasures. The great law of sacrifice 
is embracing us, and must have its perfect work. 
Like Him, we must be made " perfect through 
suffering. J? Let us pray Him, therefore, to shed 
abroad in us the mind that was in Christ; that 
our will being crucified, we may offer up our- 
selves to be disposed of as He sees best, whether 
for joy or sorrow, blessing or chastisement; to be 
high or low, to be slighted or esteemed, to be full 
or to suffer much, to have many friends or to 
dwell in a lonely home; to be passed by, or call- 
ed to serve Him and His kingdom in our own 
land, or among people of a strange tongue; to be, 
to go, to do, to suffer, even as He wills, even as 
He ordains, even as Christ endured, " who, 
through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself with- 
out spot to God." Amen. 



Ephphatha, the meaning of our Saviour's sigh. 

But why, when He used the word of healing, 
did He accompany it with that sigh? l We may 
ask the same question at the grave of Lazarus. 
Why did He weep when He stood by the dead 

1 " And looking up to heaven He sighed, and saith unto him, 
Ephphatha."— St. Mark, vii. 34. 



90 CONSOLATIO. 

man's grave, or sigh when He looked upon the 
deaf man's barred ears ? Why did He weep 
when He was going to make the dead man live, 
or sigh when He was going to make the deaf man 
hear ? 

The answer is not a difficult one. It w T as His 
profound sense of the woes of man that so affected 
Him. To us, the restoration of voice or of life to 
the dumb or the dead is so great a thing, that it 
overspreads our souls with the brightest sunshine. 
If we have some dear friend visited with any 
grievous defect, and God supplies it, we are over- 
whelmed with joy ; or if one whom we love, per- 
haps as life itself, might seem to be hanging over 
the grave, and about to drop into it, and then 
God should rebuke the disease, and give us good 
hope of restoration, our joy would be almost 
excessive. How different was Jesus ! He saw 
in His own mind both voice and hearing already 
restored to the poor deaf stammerer, yet He sigh- 
ed; He saw the flame of life already rekindled 
in the death-cold bosom of Lazarus, and yet He 
wept. Why, then, again, did He sigh ? and why 
did He weep? My brethren, it was not one poor 
stammerer that He came to give speech to, nor 
one cold corpse that He came to revive. " I am 
the Resurrection and the Life, " were his own 
great words as He stood over the grave at Beth- 
any. He looked over the countless dead, whom 



CONSOLATIO. 91 

sin had slain, and what was the restoration of life 
to one poor body, of all that host? He looked 
over the countless families whom death had made 
desolate, and what was the consolation of one 
little circle, when so many myriads of mourners 
remained? Therefore He wept. 

" O'erwhelming thoughts of pain and grief 

Over his sinking spirit sweep : 
What boots it gathering one lost leaf 

Out of yon sere and wither'd heap, 
Where souls and bodies, hopes and joys, 
All that earth owns, or sin destroys, 
Under the spurning hoof are cast, 
Or tossing in th' autumnal blast !" l 

This was the reason of the tears and the sighs 
of the Son of Man. 

He looked all down the dreadful stream of 
human suffering. He saw, — it was a mighty 
part, perhaps the very mightiest part of his Pas- 
sion, — He saw clearly before Him the congregat- 
ed miseries of man; He saw the strong bowed 
down by weakness, the healthy wasting away by 
the slow poison-juice of mortality; He saw many 
a babe diseased from the very womb, and instead 
of the bright eye, and the active limb, and the 
quick ear and bell-like voice of childhood, — visit- 
ed with the dark orb, the crippled member ; deaf, 

i The Christian Year. 



92 CONSOLATIO. 

or a stammerer. He saw the perfection of human 
beauty consumed by some dreadful disease, like 
a moth fretting a lovely garment. He saw the 
solitary chamber, and He heard the stifled sobs 
of ten thousand mourners, and the cry of agony 
which the poor sufferer could not repress, and the 
racking pain which she could not — which she 
could scarcely, even with thy mighty aid, O 
Jesus, bear ! Such was the dreadful vision which 
the Son of Man beheld; a dark, wide, rolling 
stream of tears, and sighs, and misery; a river of 
the waters of the blackness of death. 

And there is solid comfort in this view of the 
character of our blessed Saviour. What made 
Him sigh then, makes Him sympathize now. 
The heart of Jesus is not changed : He has carried 
His human body 1 to heaven, and there, with His 
wounded hands and wounded feet, and pierced 
heart flowing down with water and with blood, 
He pities, and He pleads for man. He is our 
sacrificing and sympathizing Priest; Himself the 
sacrifice, for He lies like a Lamb slain upon the 
high altar of heaven ; Himself the Priest, that in 
the linen garments of our humanity offers up, in 
prevailing intercession and perfect sympathy, the 
prayers and the tears of His people, and per- 
fumes them with the fragrant incense of His own 
merits. 

1 See ivth Article of Religion, in " the Book of Common Prayer. " 



CONSOLATIO. 93 

Oh, what a consolation ! The sigh that rose 
that day from the shores of Gennesareth to heaven, 
— it is the very panacea for sorrow. No heart 
can be perfectly desolate while that sigh is audi- 
ble. We may lose every thing we love ; but if 
we think of Him who loved what we loved, ten 
thousand times better than we could ever love it; 
if we think that He possesses what we have lost; 
and if we know, (and know we do,) that He looks 
now, not up to heaven, but down to earth, and 
sends upon our beating hearts the cool wind of 
that most tranquillizing sigh ; if we know this all 
to be true, all a perfect reality, Jesus to be quite 
near us, as near us as our grief is near, and un- 
failing in sympathy, and matchless in His heal- 
ing power; then, suffer as we may, sigh as we 
may, and be as desolate as we can be conceived 
to be, yet are our sighs, and our tears, and our 
desolation, all but means for our more complete 
cure; very avenues of blessing; channels cut out 
in the hard rocks of our stony hearts, only that 
the grace of His sympathy may more completely 
fill and refresh them. 

We are told that previously to performing this 
cure, our blessed Lord took this poor stammerer 
aside. 

There is a meaning in this for us all. It is in 
loneliness, in our solitary chamber, or in some 
season of more than ordinary calm and privacy, 



94 CONSOLATIO. 

that God often deals with the soul. The world 
is noisy and feverish, and agitating, and over- 
powers us with its many voices, and with the 
din and tumult of its stunning cares. We can 
scarcely hear the soft whisper of the Son of Man 
amid that tumultuous uproar; we can scarcely 
distinguish His form amid the pressing crowds 
that are about us. It is good to be alone with 
God and his Christ; so good, that when we are 
too mad for company, He often Himself builds up 
some high wall of separation, or puts us in some 
lonely house of death, that we may be compelled 
to listen. 

If such has been His dealing with you; if you 
have been taken away for a time by any calami- 
ty from the busier hum and haunts of life, it is He 
that has thus removed you. Has His object been 
answered? Have you felt His finger upon you? 
Has healing virtue gone out of His mouth to 
bless you? Have your ears been opened? Has 
the string of your stammering tongue been 
loosed ? Can you now hear, and speak, and sing 
of Christ? 

When you go into your silent chamber, ask 
Him to bless you, as He did the poor deaf man. 
When you go down by the sea-shore, and see 
the " little ships" all drawing their lines of light 
along its blue bosom, and the fishermen spreading 
their nets, think of the sea of Tiberias, and the 
boats of Peter and of the sons of Zebedee, and of 



CONSOLATIO. 95 

Jesus, and the crowds that listened to Him, and 
the words He spake, and the wonders He per- 
formed. Bring all your maladies to Him. Pre- 
sent the cases of your sick friends, or your young, 
happy, joyous children to Him. He stands there, 
we may almost say, to bless you. He stands 
there, that you may come and seek His blessing. 
Look earnestly towards Him ; try to realize His 
presence; court solitude, that you may have His 
company; stand apart from the multitude, that 
He may come and converse with you ; do not 
shrink from a lonely chamber, for He has cleared 
it that He may Himself come in ; and if you feel 
that you hear but little of the deep harmonies 
that fill creation, and if hearing but little, you 
only stammer when you attempt to utter them, 
look up to Him who stands over you with the 
same matchless power, and the same ineffable 
love; and He (be assured) as He poured upon the 
deaf stammerer's tongue the music of speech, will 
fill your souls to their utmost depths with the 
harmonies of praise. 



If chastisement is a token of God's love, why 
should I faint under it, or so much as desire 
release from it, till it has done its work? I must 
suffer and die ; with the help of God, I will suffer 
and die. 



CONSOLATIO. 



The Christian in trial, a spectacle. 

The Christian prays for fuller manifestations of 
Christ's power and glory, and love to Him : but 
he is often not aware that this is, in truth, pray- 
ing to be brought into the furnace ; for in the 
furnace only it is that Christ can walk with His 
friends, and display in their preservation and de- 
liverance His own Almighty power; yet, when 
brought thither, it is one of the worst parts of the 
trial, that the Christian often thinks himself, for 
a time, at least, abandoned. Job thought so ; but. 
while he looked on himself as an outcast, the In- 
finite Spirit and the wicked spirit were holding a 
dialogue on his case ! He was more an object of 
notice and interest than the largest armies that 
were ever assembled, and the mightiest revolu- 
tions that ever shook the world, considered merely 
in their temporal interests and consequences. 
Let the Christian be deeply concerned, in all his 
trials, to honour his Master before such observers. 



Prayers for holiness answered by sorrow. 

God's way of answering the Christian's prayer 
for an increase of patience, experience, hope, and 
love, usually is to put him into the furnace of tri- 



CONSOLATIO. 97 

bulation. St. James therefore says, " Count it all 
joy when ye fall into divers temptations." People 
of the world u count it all joy" when they are in 
ease and affluence, but a Christian is taught to 
"count it all joy" when he is tried as gold in the 
fire. 



A time of need, a time of prayer, and of refreshment. 

When the privations of life have diminished the 
objects of social happiness ; when death has dried 
up the fountains which run freely with their clear 
and salutary waters; when pain and disease have 
altered the character of existence, and changed 
the scene of hilarity, and buoyancy, and activity, 
into the scene of suffering, inactivity, patience, 
and abstraction from the previous intercourse of 
life ; then to go to the throne of grace, and to 
draw closer the ties which no privation, nor suf- 
fering, nor vicissitude, can dissolve; this is to con- 
nect "a time of need" with the best and brightest 
manifestations of mercy and grace to the soul ! 
Many may be the hours of comparative repinings 
and of wounded hopes, and of unhealthy wander- 
ings of mind ; but these are sometimes exchanged 
for hours passed at the throne of grace, to which 
no eye but that of God is witness ; hours when 
7 



98 CONSOLATIO. 

Christ speaks, and pain and sorrow are forgotten; 
hours, when cut off from the din of life, and sepa- 
rated from friends, and left alone with God, every 
murmuring is yet hushed, and every privation is 
repaid ! — hours when the manifestation of the 
Redeemer's glory to the soul has shed a calm and 
a blissful radiance around every prospect, and 
proved the earnest of that better heritage which 
is "incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away." 

Believer in Christ ! mark well the grounds upon 
which the efficacy of thy prayer depends ; thy 
very cry of guilt and sorrow is the result of the 
Spirit whose habitation thou art. Thou art the 
property of God, and under the sure protection of 
Jesus thou wilt reach thy eternal home. Pray 
then in faith. Consider thy great High Priest ; 
think of the virtue of His blood, and of the preva- 
lency of His intercession. Come boldly to His 
throne of grace; unfold all thy heart; lay bare to 
Him its guilt, defilement, weakness and incon- 
stancy. Implore mercy with incessant repetition 
of anxiety. " In every time of need seek grace to 
help." Jesus Christ knows all thy wants, and 
u has received gifts," that "out of His fulness 
thou shouldst receive grace for grace." He has 
opened the way to God ; He has unbarred the 
gates of acceptance; He has overcome death, and 
hell, and sin. and He bids thee " be of good cheer." 



CONSOLATIO. 99 

Come, then, with holy confidence, into his sanc- 
tuary; attach the highest value to prayer ; deem 
it to be thy best preservative from sin, and thy 
best antidote to sorrow. Expect large and full 
relief at the throne of grace. Retreat from the 
accusations of conscience, from the stern voices of 
the law, from the calumnies of men, from the 
malice of Satan, from the fears and inconstancy 
of thine own heart ; retreat from all these enemies, 
and take thy shelter within the sanctuary of the 
Lord. Thou hast an heritage in the heart of 
Christ; thy name is written there, and "thou 
shalt never be forgotten."' His love cannot change, 
nor can His knowledge of thy case be at any time 
obscure. He knows all: He feels all; He will 
succour all. 

Never canst thou know His inexhaustible kind- 
ness. No human conception can grasp the mighty- 
mystery of His covenant love ! But depend, con- 
fide, petition, pray ; be ever a suppliant at the 
throne of grace. Thou art as much the object of 
His tender care as if thou wert His lon^ child in 
the universe of nature ! Cast, then, thy burden 
upon Him, and say, with a joy unspeakable, and 
full of glory, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall 
not want." 



100 CONSOLATIO. 



Effect of the death and burial of Christ upon death, 
and the place of the dead. 

Here, in the grave of Christ, our souls, being 
planted in the likeness of His death, shall be 
planted in the likeness of His resurrection also ; 
and it is the same with our bodies. His death is 
the life of our souls, and of our bodies also, by His 
quickening Spirit. This His body is that seed of 
which He spake in the deep groanings of His suf- 
fering soul, which, if it die, shall not abide alone, 
but bring forth many seeds like unto itself; for 
our vile body, if we be buried with Him, shall be 
fashioned like unto His glorious body. Here, 
therefore, must we come, not only that we may 
learn to live, but also that we may learn to die, 
and to contemplate with comfort the death of our 
friends ; for here may we be not only dead with 
Him, but in Him also ; dead in some sense, with 
the faithful departed. It is here with Christ that 
we learn to reflect on the death of our friends, 
and on our own, with peace and consolation, and 
in the depth of His grave to learn Christian hope. 

Here the solemn calm of the great Sabbath hath 
already begun. In the deep stillness which is 
here exchanged for the anxieties and agonies, and 
the feverish passions and excitement of the scene 
that has passed, we seem to participate in the 



CONSOLATIO. 101 

awful calm of death; and as in life we mingle 
and blend our sympathies with the condition and 
state of our friends, and borrow their feelings, so 
in this calm we seem to partake of the stillness of 
those souls which are released from the body in 
that place, " where the wicked cease from troub- 
ling, and the weary are at rest." And if this calm 
is so striking, contrasted with that which is past, 
still greater is that feeling of stillness in death 
when we contrast it with that which is to come, 
the great morning of the resurrection ; deep is the 
suspense that watches in that awful expectation; 
here is that night of which our Lord spake, where- 
in no man can work ; He hath done our work for 
us; our righteousness is no longer of works, but 
we may rest in Him. 

Blessed, therefore, is this grave, because we 
therein approach to the dead in Christ, and be- 
cause this is the home where we ourselves shall 
have to dwell: for we, too, shall soon have to 
make our bed in the dark, and the grave shall 
close its doors about us ; and before then it is the 
home of our buried affections, the house of all 
living. Here might one pourtray human nature 
itself sitting at a tomb, for our life is a continual 
bereavement, and as soon as we begin to know 
affection, we begin to mourn the loss of it. No 
one can have lived for any time in the world, but 
his best treasures and his best affections must be 



102 CONSOLATIO. 

with the dead ; and there is no reflecting person 
who does not find that those parts of his life, in 
which he sinks most deeply into himself and the 
knowledge of his condition, are made up of those 
hours of stillness and solitude, where he seems to 
sit at the grave of those who were once like him- 
self, full of the same thoughts, and feelings, and 
affections. Stillness and solitude is of itself like 
a holy sanctuary, wherein he seems to draw near 
to them ; it is that in which they are ever found ; 
and to draw near to them is to draw away from 
the world ; for wherever it is that the faithful de- 
parted are, we know that to be with them is to be 
with Christ. 

So much is this contemplation for our soul's 
health in the school of Divine wisdom, that in 
order to withdraw us from the stir and business 
of this world, God has appointed the continual 
returns of night, wherein we may be as in the 
midst of the grave, in darkness, in stillness, and 
in solitude ; in order that He may so recall and 
admonish us, every night, of the solitude and still- 
ness, and darkness of the grave. For in that 
return of night, wherein we are continually thus 
laid, He has forced upon us, who are so unwilling 
to learn, the daily contemplation of our latter 
end; — of this, the death of Christ, which sancti- 
fies and blesses that end, and of the necessity of 
being conformed thereto. For night is nothing 



CONSOLATIO. 103 

else but the due and necessary preparation for the 
morning ; and that morning is the great morning 
of the Resurrection, and the coming of Christ. 
And so intimately is the consideration of this great 
morning connected with the sleep of Christ in the 
grave, that the early Christians used to keep the 
night of our Lord's rising from the grave in prayer 
and watching, in expectation of His return, in 
that same night, to Judgment. Let us, through- 
out the night of this world, be busied thus with 
Christ, and watching for His return. 

dk < jb . jb JU 4fe 

-ft - TT" *R" TV* -7T 

But the dead body of Christ is left here lifeless 
and untenanted, not only that His dead body may 
sanctify death, but that His spotless soul may 
sanctify the place of the dead. One sacrificial 
animal, the sin-offering, is dead in our hands ; 
but the other has escaped, and gone into the wil- 
derness, bearing sin. 1 If the earth is hallowed 
and preserved from corruption because the sinless 
Son of man hath once made it His abode, and the 
flesh His tabernacle, no less must the place of the 
departed have derived some great blessing from 
the sojourn of His righteous soul among them. 
He has not only made this world once the place 
of His abode, but has continued ever since to 
vouchsafe His presence to it in some high and 

1 Levit. xvi. 22. 



104 CONSOLATIO. 

peculiar manner, so that it is not as it was before. 
And thus also it is with the place of His saints 
that depart hence in the Lord ; for since that time, 
"from henceforth blessed are the dead," for the 
good to die is " to be with Christ," which is far 
better, and to " sleep in the Lord." It was for 
this that the Prophet Isaiah spake, " Bring out 
the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit 
in darkness out of the prison-house." This their 
darkness He has converted into His own mar- 
vellous light. Of this also spake the Prophet 
Zechariah, " By the blood of thy covenant I have 
sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is 
no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye pris- 
oners of hope." 

Well may we believe that place to be blessed 
where the soul of Christ hath been. The great 
Italian poet, when the scene of his poem is in the 
abode of the wicked, is cautious lest the ever- 
blessed Name should ever there escape, or be 
uttered, in those regions of despair ; whereby he 
meant to imply that that awful Name would 
burst asunder the everlasting bars of that prison- 
house. How much more may we suppose that — 
not the name uttered by the lips, but — the ever- 
adorable Son of God, the soul of Christ Himself, 
must have been of mighty avail for good in the 
place of the faithful departed. 

Nay, indeed, even nature itself, instinctively 



CONSOLATIO. 105 

would suggest to us tins lesson of hope; for what 
reader has not been struck with wonder at Homer's 
description of the place of the dead, so expressive 
of demerit, and the expectation of righteous judg- 
ment in man, yet not without a secret hope in 
God? That first and greatest of poets describes 
the souls of the dead as wrapt in mysterious 
gloom, and powerless and silent, until they have 
partaken of the blood of the sacrifice. Such is 
the voice of nature, if it be not something greater 
than nature; or the glimmering light of primeval 
tradition, that spoke of the great Sacrifice, in the 
midst of that spiritual darkness, to them who 
wandered beneath the dim twilight of the shadow 
of death. 

Blessed, therefore, is the thought of that inter- 
mediate state between death and resurrection ; it 
is in some especial manner to be with Christ; 
there is something in the thought very full of awe 
and trembling joy; it is also to be with Abraham 
and all the dead who are with Christ, as they are 
selected and gathered out of this evil world. The 
more we think of it, and of those who have pre- 
ceded us there, the more do we seem to approach 
them; for the dwelling-place and movement of 
our minds depends not on bodily change of place, 
but on the thoughts ; we are there where our 
thoughts are. How aspiring, how exalting, how 
calming, how quickening, how hallowing, is the 



106 COXSOLATIO. 

contemplation, that before the rising of another 
sun we may be in that country of the faithful 
departed — if found worthy to be there! 



If I am afflicted, or sick, or weak, or in pain, 
let me not comfort myself chiefly with thinking 
that it will be quickly over, or that I shall soon 
be well, but rather with thinking and knowing 
that it is the appointment of Divine wisdom, — 
for reasons of infinite concernment to myself, and 
for the end which God has chiefly in view for His 
people, in all His inflictions, viz. the glory of His 
name in their spiritual health and recovery ; and 
a blessed support it will be to know and feel that 
I do not so much desire ease and deliverance from 
present trouble, as grace and strength to undergo 
more and greater, and even death itself, quietly, 
obediently, in the spirit of faith, and with full ac- 
ceptance of the will of God. 



Bodily pain, the fitting accompaniment of the Christian 
state. 

Such, then, were our Lord's sufferings, volun- 
tarily undergone, and ennobled by an active obe- 
dience ; themselves the centre of our hopes and 



C0NS0LAT10. 107 

worship, yet borne without thoughts of self, to- 
wards God, and for man. And who among us 
habitually dwells upon them, but is led, without 
deliberate purpose, by the very warmth of grati- 
tude and adoring love, to attempt bearing his own 
inferior trials in the same heavenly mind? Who 
does not see that to bear pain well is to meet it 
courageously? not to shrink or waver, but to pray 
for God's help ; then to look at it stedfastly, — to 
summon what nerve we have of mind or body to 
meet its attack, and to bear up against it (while 
strength is given us) as against some visible ene- 
my in close combat. Who will not acknowledge, 
that when sent to us, we must make its presence, 
as it were, our own voluntary act, by the cheer- 
ful and ready acquiescence of our own will with 
the will of God ? Nay, who is there but must 
own, that with Christ's sufferings before us, pain 
and tribulation are, after all, not only the most 
blessed, but even the most congruous attendants 
upon those who are called to inherit the benefit 
of them? Most congruous, I say, not as though 
necessary, but as most natural and befitting; har- 
monizing most fully with the main object in the 
group of sacred wonders on which the Church is 
called to gaze. Who, on the other hand, does not 
at least perceive that all the glare and gaudiness 
of this world, its excitements, its keenly-pursued 
goods, its successes, and its transports, its pomps, 



108 CONSOLATIO. 

and its luxuries, are not in character with that 
pale and solemn scene which faith must ever 
have in its eye? What Christian will not own 
that to '-reign as kings," and to be "full," is not 
his calling? so as to derive comfort in the hour of 
sickness or bereavement, or other affliction, from 
the thought that he is now in his place, if he be 
Christ's, in his true home, the sepulchre in which 
his Lord was laid. 



Could we see the Cross upon Calvary, and the 
list of sufferers who resisted unto blood in the 
times that followed it, is it possible that we should 
feel surprise when pain overtake us, or impatience 
at its continuance ? Is it strange, though we are 
smitten by ever so new a plague? Is it grievous 
that the cross presses upon one nerve or limb ever 
so many years, till hope of relief is gone? Is it 
indeed not possible, with the Apostle, to rejoice in 
11 bearing in our body the marks of the Lord 
Jesus ? " And much more can we, for very shame- 
sake, suffer ourselves to be troubled at what is 
but ordinary pain, to be irritated or saddened, 
made gloomy or anxious by inconvenience, which 
could never surprise or unsettle those, who had 
studied and understood their place as servants of 
a crucified Lord? 

Let us, then, determine, with cheerful hearts. 



CONSOLATIO. 109 

to sacrifice unto the Lord our God our comforts 
and pleasures, however innocent, when He calls 
for them, whether for the purposes of His Church 
or in His own inscrutable purposes. Let us lend 
to Him a few short hours of present ease, and we 
shall receive our own with abundant usury in the 
day of His coming. There is a treasury in heaven, 
stored with such offerings as the natural man 
abhors, — \yith sighs and tears, wounds and bloody 
torture and death. The martyrs first began the 
contribution, and we may all follow them; all of 
us, for every suffering, great or small, may, like 
the widow's mite, be sacrificed to Him who sent 
it. Christ gave us the words of consecration, when 
He for our example said, " Thy will be done." 
Henceforth, as the Apostle speaks, we may glory 
in tribulation as the seed of future glory. Mean- 
while, let us never forget in all we suffer, that, 
properly speaking, our own sin is the cause of it ; 
and it is only by Christ's mercy that we are al- 
lowed to range ourselves at His side. We, who 
are children of wrath, are made through Him 
children of grace ; and our pains, which are in 
themselves foretastes of hell, are changed by the 
sprinkling of His blood into a preparation for 
heaven. 



110 CONSOLATIO. 



God's 'particular providence. 

How gracious is this revelation of God's par- 
ticular providence to those who seek Him ! how 
gracious to those who have discovered that this 
world is but vanity, and who are solitary and iso- 
lated in themselves, whatever shadows of power 
and happiness surround them ! ThQ multitude, 
indeed, go on without these thoughts, either from 
insensibility, as not understanding their own 
wants, or changing from one idol to another, as 
each successively fails: but men even of keener 
hearts would be overpowered by despondency, 
and would even loathe existence, did they sup- 
pose themselves under the mere operation of fixed 
laws, powerless to excite the pity or the attention 
of Him who has appointed them. What should 
they do especially, who are cast among persons 
unable to enter into their feelings, and thus stran- 
gers to them, though by long custom ever so 
much friends ; or have perplexities of mind they 
cannot explain to themselves, much less remove, 
and no one to help them ; or have affections and 
aspirations pent up within them, because they 
have not met with objects to which to devote 
them ; or are misunderstood by those around 
them, and find they have no words to set them- 
selves right with them, or no principles in com- 



CONSOLATIO. Ill 

mon, by way of appeal; or seem to themselves 
to be without place or purpose in the world, or to 
be in the way of others ; or have to follow their 
own sense of duty, without advisers or support- 
ers ; nay, to resist the wishes and solicitations of 
superiors or relatives, or the burden of some pain- 
ful secret, or of some incommunicable solitary 
grief ! In all such cases the Gospel narrative 
supplies our very need, not simply presenting to 
us an unchangeable Creator to rely upon, but a 
compassionate Guardian, a discriminating Judge 
and Helper. God beholds thee individually, who- 
ever thou art; He calls thee by thy name : He 
sees thee and understands thee ; as He made thee, 
He knows what is in thee ; all thy own peculiar 
feelings and thoughts, thy dispositions and likings, 
thy strength and thy weakness : He views thee 
in thy day of rejoicing and thy day of sorrow : 
He sympathizes in thy hopes and temptations : 
He interests Himself in all thy anxieties and re- 
membrances, — all the risings and fallings of thy 
spirits: He has numbered the very hairs of thy 
head, and the cubits of thy stature : He com- 
passes thee round, and bears thee in His arms : 
He takes thee up, and He sets thee down : He 
notes thy very countenance, whether smiling or 
in tears, — whether healthful or sickly : He looks 
tenderly upon thy hands and thy feet: He hears 
thy voice, the beating of thy heart, and thy very 



112 CONSOLATIO. 

breathing. Thou dost not love thyself better 
than He loves thee : thou canst not shrink from 
pain more than He dislikes thy bearing it ; and 
if He puts it on thee, it is as thou wilt put it on 
thyself for a greater good afterwards. Thou art 
not only His creature (though for the very spar- 
rows He has a care, and pitied the much cattle of 
Nineveh); thou art man redeemed and sanctified, 
His adopted son, favoured with a portion of that 
glory and blessedness which flows from Him 
everlastingly unto the Only-begotten. Thou wast 
one of those for whom Christ offered up His last 
prayer, and sealed it with His precious blood. 
What a thought is this ! — a thought almost too 
great for our faith. Scarce can we refrain from 
acting Sarah's part, when we bring it before us, 
so as to laugh from amazement and perplexity. 
What is man, what are we, what am I, that the 
Son of God should have been so mindful of me? 
W r hat am I, that He should have changed my 
soul's original constitution ; new-made me, who 
from youth up have been a transgressor ; and 
should Himself dwell personally in this very 
heart of mine, making me His temple? What 
am I, that God the Holy Ghost should enter me, 
and draw up my thoughts heavenwards, " with 
plaints unutterable ? " 



COXSOLATIO. 113 

Affliction intended to make us feel the all-sufficiency 
of God. 

Affliction is a great realizer in religion, or rather 
a great detecter of the want of reality in religion. 
We, perhaps, thought ourselves Christians, and 
that we were founded on the rock ; and now an 
affliction comes, and we shake like aspen-leaves. 
Could this be, if we were really on the rock? We 
thought fondly that God was the chosen portion 
of our souls, and that, though all created things 
were taken from us, we had enough when we had 
Him; and yet, when He crosses some desire of 
our hearts, or removes some of His own gifts, — 
a friend, perhaps, or even a little of the world's 
trash, — we seem as if we had lost our all, and 
cry after it as that Danite did after his idols. And 
thus we learn the fact that our comfort before did 
not, as we idly supposed, flow from the eternal 
fountain, (for that still remains to us,) but had 
been drawn from perishing cisterns ; and there- 
fore, now that they are broken, we die of thirst. 
This is an important discovery, and it was to 
make this discovery to us that God sent the 
affliction. Let us, then, receive it in deep hu- 
mility ; let us receive it as a call from God to 
leave the creature behind us, and go directly into 
His own more immediate presence, into His inner 
chamber. 

8 



114 CONSOLATIO. 

Reader, will you allow me to speak a word to you 
on this matter. Beware of occupying your mind 
as to how the affliction happened, or how it might 
have been prevented. Think not of the oversight, 
or folly, or malice, which may appear to you to 
be the immediate occasion of it. God did it; and 
you must bid away all second causes from your 
thought, and carry the affliction to His throne of 
grace, and cast it and yourself before Him ; and 
ask Him to save your soul, and to deliver you 
from resting on any created portion ; and pray 
Him to become Himself your real, and true, and 
everlasting portion. Take care that this afflic- 
tion be not lost. Abide in His presence, and be 
jealous of receiving comfort from any other 
source ; you may lose your affliction if you do. 
And, oh ! remember that holiness is of more im- 
portance than comfort. Be still more anxious for 
profit from your own affliction, than from support 
under it. You are an immortal creature, and 
eternity is your great concern. Holiness is eter- 
nal happiness — comfort may be the affair of an 
hour. And God sends affliction, that we may be- 
come partakers of His holiness. 

Let me conclude by saying, that all is to be 
looked for and received from God:. "Open thy 
mouth wide and I will fill it." It is the soul that 
receives all from God, which alone can feel itself 
to be the property of God ; His property to guide 



CONSOLATIO. H5 

and to command; His property to bless and to 
keep; His highly-prized property, purchased at 
no less a cost than the death of Christ, for this 
very end, that He might sanctify it in time, and 
glorify it in eternity. The soul that feels this has 
peace ; it does not make haste, for it knows how 
secure it is. It possesses the secret of the Lord, 
that secret which does for all circumstances and 
contingencies — which does for life, for death, for 
duty, for suffering — which gives the spirit of a 
pilgrim, and yet a willing servant — which gives 
the foretaste of the joy of heaven, as it is the 
commencement of the character of heaven. 



How can we complain, or think hardly of God 
for any thing He does, or have the least doubt of 
His goodness, when He has given His Son to die 
for us ? 



Bereavements , special occasions for God's consolations. 

Many owe their extrication from the ruin of 
this world to affliction, to some sanctified sorrow; 
and to none more frequently than to the loss of 
relatives or friends. Our once cheerful home is 
now become a house of mourning; there is a 



116 CONSOLATIO. 

blank in the domestic circle which nothing earth- 
ly can fill up; and every object to which surviv- 
ing friends can look, repeats the same sad story, 
that the desire of their eyes is taken from them : 
and yet these seasons are sometimes blessed 
beyond all description : and many have known 
more happiness, even in the multitude of their 
sorrows, than they ever knew before ; for often 
will that Being, who came to heal the broken- 
hearted, seize the softened moments, and visit the 
mourner as he sits in solitary moments. In Him 
the afflicted find a friend formed for adversity, — 
one who can penetrate the soul, and converse 
with all that is most intimate and peculiar in our 
bereavement; — one who knew the object for 
which we grieve better than we did ourselves; 
one who was Himself " a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief." In sympathizing with 
Him, the soul is gently lifted above the world. 
It becomes the sweetest consolation to think of 
that blessed place, where we shall see our friends 
again, and fall down before the throne of Him 
who comforted us in our troubles. These are 
11 tears that delight, and sighs that waft to heaven." 
These sorrows are turned into joy; they unite us 
to Him who is the salvation of the soul; they 
bring us to that High Priest who is touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities, and through Him 
we cast our anchor within the veil. 



CONSOLATIO. 117 

O that sigh ! Do happy people ever sigh? I 
find I want something which God will not suffer 
me to have; and till we are of the same mind, 
life can be nothing at bottom but one perpetual 
sigh. 



The faith of Jesus, the channel of suffering grace. 

Jesus lived, offering up His own blood in sub- 
missive confidence. He is thus our pattern ; and 
He is more than our pattern, for in Him the grace 
of God, and the forgiveness of sins committed 
during the sparing mercy of God, are freely 
declared to the Chief of Sinners, and through Him 
living water is communicated, enabling those who 
will receive it to walk in the same steps towards 
the same glory. 

That spiritual stream comes back to us, as it 
were, through the gates of death — from the other 
side of the gulf; and thus it is a stranger here, 
for its home and its interests are all on the other 
side ; and as it is itself a stranger, it makes those 
to become strangers and pilgrims who receive it. 
They seek back to the fountain-head of their life, 
and desire to be with Him; and as they know 
that it is only through sorrow and death that 
they can arrive at Him, they enter into the coun- 
sel of God in His plan of leading them in this 
way, with their whole hearts. 



118 CONSOLATIO. 



Suffering, a higher path than doing. 

Saul had anxiously inquired, " What wouldest 
thou have me to do?" Our Lord sends His 
minister to tell him, not what great things he 
shall do, but what far greater things he shall 
svffer. Sufferings are, after all, the great achieve- 
ments of the Christian. Where one man is per- 
mitted to effect mighty things for his Lord, by 
carrying the words of the everlasting Gospel over 
the burning sands of Africa, or the frozen moun- 
tains of the north, thousands and tens of thou- 
sands are called to the high privilege of the 
Philippians of old, " not only to believe, but also 
to suffer for His name's sake." To sit on His 
right hand and on His left, are not now to be 
given ; but to drink of His cup of trial, and to be 
baptized with His baptism of affliction, are still 
among the choicest blessings which He bestows 
upon His people. Be not, then, disappointed, my 
beloved brethren, if, with every desire to do great 
things for your Divine Master, you are denied the 
power or the opportunity. If, as has been beau- 
tifully said, "They also serve who only stand 
and wait,' 7 how much more do they serve who 
are called upon to endure and to suffer ! Yes ; in 
the chamber of sickness, upon the bed of pain, 
you may as greatly glorify your Redeemer, as 



CONSOLATIO. H9 

amid the trials of the mission, or the tortures of 
the stake : and often does it please your Heavenly- 
Father, that while you are meditating what great 
things you shall do for Christ, He is preparing 
the great things you shall suffer. 

Endeavor, therefore, to live in that spiritual 
frame of mind, that you may be daily willing, at 
the bidding of your Lord, to take up the cross, 
and to follow His footsteps, though they may lead 
you through many a toilsome track, or guide you 
through many a thorny passage. In your 
journey to the heavenly country, you must en- 
counter trials, and troubles, and sorrow ; no child 
of God was ever yet without them ; not one of all 
that countless multitude in white robes, with 
palms in their hands, but "came out of great 
tribulation : " how can you therefore expect or 
desire to escape that of which all the other 
children in God's dear family have so largely 
partaken? " Think it not, therefore, strange 
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as 
though some strange thing happened unto you; 
but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be 
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding 
joy." Dwell much and frequently upon the views 
of that " eternal weight of glory;" it will tend 
more than any other consideration to teach you 
to form a correct and scriptural estimate of your 



120 CONSOLATIO. 

"• light afflictions." It was thus that the Apostle 
of whom we are speaking, (St. Paul) at a later 
period of his Christian course, was enabled to 
bear, (and to bear without repining,) an infinitely 
heavier load of suffering than will ever be laid on 
you. He cast all his trials, all his sorrows, all 
his sufferings, into one scale, and after considera- 
tion of them, declares them to be light, and but 
for a moment. He then lays the glory in the 
other scale, and pronounces it to be ponderous, 
weighty, and eternal, an exceeding " weight of 
glory." In the one is sorrow for a little while, in 
the other eternal joy. In the one, pain for a few 
moments; in the other, everlasting rest. In the 
one is the loss of some few temporary things; in 
the other, the full fruition of God in Christ, who 
is "all in all." 



Life, the practice of the Cross. 

Our life from baptism to our death should be a 
practice of the cross, a learning to be crucified, 
a crucifixion of our passions, appetites, desires, 
wills, until one by one they be all nailed ; and we 
have no will but the will of our Father which is 
in heaven. Men and brethren, soldiers, servants, 
ensign-bearers of Christ, what are we doing? 



CONSOLATIO. JO] 

We were baptized into onr Saviour's death, our 
Saviour's cross : we too bear upon our brows the 
imprinted cross, unseen of men, but seen of 
angels, seen of Satan, — "the seal of God upon 
our foreheads: " but was it placed there an idle 
sign? Had it no meaning? Was the sign of 
the cross to be worn in the midst of luxury and 
ease? Were the sworn soldiers of the cross to live 
softly? 

Our Lord, too, who bore the cross for us, 
preached the cross; hear Him ! " He that taketh 
not his cross, and followeth after me, is not 
worthy of me." (Matt. x. 3S.) "Then said he 
to his disciples, If any man will come after me, 
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, 
and follow me." (Luke, ix. 23.) 

Would any know how to begin bearing the 
cross? Some crosses God, from our very child- 
hood, has in His goodness provided for us, that 
in them we may learn, what of ourselves we 
should have had no courage to begin. We speak 
of the "crosses" of daily life, and forget that our 
very language is a witness against us; how 
meekly we ought to bear them, in the blessed 
steps of our Holy Lord; how, in "every cross 
and care," we ought not to acquiesce simply, but 
to take them cheerfully, — not cheerfully only, 
but joyfully; yea, if they should even deserve 
the name of tribulation, to "joy in tribulation" 



loo CONSOLATIO. 

also, as seeing in them our Father's hand, our 
Saviour's cross. So walking on earth, we may 
be in heaven : the ill-tempers of others, the slights 
and rudenesses of the world, ill health, the daily 
accidents with which God has mercifully strewed 
our paths, instead of ruffling or disturbing our 
peace, may cause the peace of God to be "shed 
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost 
which is given to us." 



The cleansing of the clouds of life. 

" And now men see not the bright light which 
is in the clouds; but the wind passeth and cleans- 
eth them." 1 So speaks Elihu, in the solemn and 
sublime address which he makes to Job. " Now 
we see through a glass darkly ;" so writes the 
Apostle to the early converts at Corinth, when 
telling them of the character of their state and 
calling. The "now" of Elihu is the present 
hour, the present day, the present month or year; 
the "now " of the Apostle is the whole scope of 
the present chequered life. Of both, the same 
great truth is justly to be predicated. We live in 
constant twilight; we cannot see by the clear 

i Job, xxxvii. 21. 



CONSOLATIO. 123 

broad light of day the exact colour and character 
ef God's providences: some small part is re- 
vealed, but a far larger is hidden: we see the 
clouds, but we cannot understand them, we can- 
not interpret them ; they have a meaning, but we 
cannot tell exactly what it is; it is an enigma, a 
riddle, a mystery; and it must continue to be so 
until time draws up the veil of the future, and 
God, the revealer of secrets, displays to His wait- 
ing, wondering, adoring servants, the glory and 
the beauty of all this mysterious dispensation. 

" The wind," says Elihu, " passeth and cleans- 
eth them." "Then," says the Apostle to the 
Corinthians, il then shall v/e see face to face." 
The clouds of Providence shall be dispersed at 
last; the wind shall clear and cleanse the dark- 
ened sky: we shall see face to face; the day- 
dawn of another world shall succeed to the long 
and laborious gloom of this ; the shadows shall 
flee away ; and as God Himself sees, so almost 
shall we see in open vision His unclouded glory. 

It was to explain to the uneasy and anxious 
mind of Job, or if not to explain, at least to illus • 
trate the character of God's dealings, that Elihu 
spoke these words. Let us ask and wait for the 
aid of the Holy Spirit, while we endeavor to 
expand their meaning. 

First, and generally, they place before us a 
moral truth under a natural appearance. They 



124 CONSOLATIO. 

bid us look at the clouds that hang heavily over 
the landscape. How dark and gloomy they 
seem! They are like a great curtain let down 
and drawn before us; they seem to shut out all 
light, to exclude all hope, to veil and almost to 
extinguish all beauty. We can scarcely believe 
but that all thatis behind them is as melancholy 
as they are themselves; it seems as if heaven (I 
mean the natural heaven) were all cloud; as if, 
pierce deep as we might into its bosomed gloom, 
we should still find nothing but cold, and dark- 
ness, and mist. We may have seen the blue 
depths of the vaulted heaven a thousand times 
before ; we may have rejoiced in their azure 
glory ; we may have felt the strange and myste- 
rious charm of their power upon our souls; but it 
is all now as if it had never been ; we only see 
the rolling world of clouds that swim above us, 
and that fill our minds as well as our sight, and 
seem to blot out every trace of former sunlight, 
and almost to destroy every possibility of future 
gladness. 

It is in words like those before us that we are 
thus taught a moral lesson by a natural type. 
"Look at those clouds," (so the Holy Spirit 
would seem to speak to us by Elihu;) "look at 
those clouds, so deep, so dark, so continuous, so 
overspreading the whole face of the sky; they are 
not what they appear ; they are neither so deep 



CONSOLATIO. 125 

nor so abiding as they seem. It is true they have 
hung there all the day, and perhaps for many 
days longer they shall continue to hang there: 
but they shall not be perpetual, — a time shall 
come when they shall be scattered and removed. 
It is also true that they may be unbroken, and 
that their darkness may seem unrelieved by a 
single ray of sunshine; but it is not so: there is 
light in their bosoms ; they carry an inward 
glory; they are the hiding-places of the sun's 
burning rays; there are rainbow glories moving 
and playing like the fire among the cherubim of 
Ezekiel, all through their wondrous depths. Go 
to some tall mountain, on whose bright summit 
the sunshine lives; up which the clouds cannot 
climb, it is so high : look down upon those very 
clouds that appear to you so impenetrably gloomy, 
and they seem like one swelling sea of silver 
waves ; it is glory, and brightness, and beauty, 
in one continuous and wonderful extent and suc- 
cession. You see not now, as the text tells us, 
" the light that is in them;' 7 but though you do 
not see it, it is there. It is your weakness, your 
low and abject condition, your earthly station, 
that makes you see nothing but the gloom of a 
sad day in that welkin which, within it and 
above, is all burning with beauty and glory. 

Such is the natural truth ; such is the reality 
of that picture which the clouds present to us, 



12(5 CONSOLATIO. 

when examined and considered. But what does 
this tell us about ourselves? This is our great 
concern. What does it reveal to us of the world 
of Providence, or of the world of grace ? 

It tells us that, as there are clouds in the natu- 
ral world, so will there be dark shadows on the 
heart of man. They are necessary. God would 
not bring them over His people if they were not 
so, for " He doth not afflict willingly." They 
are indispensable for the carrying on of His great 
scheme of grace. They are necessary for those 
whom He is bringing to the knowledge of Him- 
self on earth ; and they are equally indispensable 
for those, whom having brought to this knowl- 
edge of Himself on earth, He is bringing to the 
sight and to the enjoyment of Himself in heaven. 
They are necessary first to soften the heart; they 
are equally necessary afterwards to sanctify the 
heart. The reason and the necessity of these 
clouds is, that if the world were all sunshine, 
unconverted men would, humanly speaking, 
never leave it for God; they would u dote and be 
mad upon their idols." The further reason and 
necessity is, that men, vitally renewed, might be 
too contented with the tranquil flow of an easy 
life; they would make no great struggles for 
virtue; they would offer no strong prayers for 
holiness; they would dwell in the region of a 
torpid contentment; they would not press and 



CONSOLATIO. 127 

soar to the upper region of a glorious and seraphic 
existence. " It is through much tribulation that 
we must enter into the kingdom of God," because 
it is through much tribulation, and through many 
clouds, that we must be made fit to enter. 

But where, you will ask, is the bright light? 
Behind these clouds it is that the light is dwell- 
ing. It is the dark side of the moral and the 
spiritual cloud which we now see; but there is a 
bright, and a beautiful, and a blessed light, on its 
upper and its heavenly side. How happy were 
the children of men, could they but believe this! 
It is so, whether they believe it or not; their 
happiness, their peace, their present and eternal 
interest, is to believe it. Look at that sorrowful 
man going on in darkness of soul, and in dark- 
ness of fortune, his goods daily diminishing, or 
his health declining, or family sorrows shaking 
with successive blows his agitated heart: it is 
cloud above, around, within : all life seems 
dreary, all hope wears the livery of despair. 
Where is the light in his many clouds ? Where 
is the bright light which the text speaks of? It 
is io the intention of God ; it is in the method 
which God is taking to lead him to Himself. Let 
this knowledge burst upon his soul, and all at 
once is changed. The gloomy cloud " turns forth 
its silver lining on the night." He sees God's 
hand-writing; and as clearly as if a Daniel were 



128 CONSOLATIO. 

there to interpret it, he can understand all its 
meaning, and discover all its mercy. 

But ifit be thus with him whom God is bring- 
ing to Himself, it is especially so with every faith- 
ful child already brought. Their Father has 
taught them to read His own hand-writing; they 
have been in His school; they have learned 
heaven's holy alphabet; they can see now earth- 
ly sorrow is the heavenly name for joy, and 
bodily pain for spiritual improvement, and the 
present wounding of the heart for its healing and 
eternal cure. 

When we see, therefore, a saintly soul bowed 
down by affliction of heart, or tried by the long 
and heavy trial of some tormenting disease, we 
are able at once to solve the great riddle of suffer- 
ing holiness; we see the "light in the cloud, ' ? 
we gather the meaning of the mystery, we see 
that God is taking (so to speak) the greatest pains 
to make His child a holy son. 

" Whom tfre Lord loveth he chasteneth; " the 
heart of the sufferer owns the truth; it leaps 
even in the midst of its pain, and joyfully con- 
fesses it : — 

11 The eye that looks at things aright 
Sees through the clouds the deep blue light ; 
And from the bank, all mire and wet, 
Plucks the fresh blooming violet. " 



CONSOLATIO. 129 

He has, moreover, a deep inner thought which 
ever consoles him. "Thou art my portion, O 
Lord." This is his heart-music. In the midst 
of sorrow he can say and sing it. "And if it be 
so, why my very portion is my chastener; it is 
the indwelling Spirit that is correcting me ; it is 
myself, my better, my heavenly self, that is lay- 
ing on the smarting rod. Could I look behind, 
could I see the bright and silver side of things, 
I should confess, without the smallest hesitation, 
that there was not a single pang with which my 
heart was quivering that was not necessary for 
my sanctification." 

But these clouds shall not always remain on 
the heart. "The wind passeth and cleanseth 
them."' The cloud is cleansed; it is a beautiful 
and expressive term; its dark parts are taken 
away, its bright parts remain. All the saints 
have found it so. Noah, Daniel, Job; even in 
this life the cloud passed away from each, and 
only the bright light of ten thousand happy 
beams of joy, and love, and grace, remained. So 
shall it be to you, sons of God, and servants of 
Him on whom in this life the sunbeams of hap- 
piness never fell ! Even in this world (have you 
not already experienced it?) heaviness has often 
endured only for a night, — joy has come in the 
morning. But should no bright after-piece suc- 
ceed to the darkness that now oppresses you ; 
9 



130 CONSOLATIO. 

should no noon-day sun burst through the rolling 
clouds of your present sorrow; should the heavy 
gloom contftiue during all the circling hours of 
your life's long day, yet still " at eventide it shall 
be light." The sunset and the evening of this 
present world shall be the type of the morning of 
the other ; you shall lie down quietly in the faith 
of Christ, and " wake up in His likeness, and be 
satisfied." 



Conquest of temptation, deliverance from the 
power of evil habits, and a ready compliance with 
the will of God, in answer to prayer, are much 
better proofs of his favorable presence than joyous 
feelings. The latter may be mistaken, but the 
former are as sure marks of the Divine operation 
and blessing, as that a plentiful crop of corn has 
had the benefit of rain and sunshine. 



Songs in the night. 

It is thy title, O Lord, and only thine, that 
thou givest " songs in the night." (Job xxxv. 10.) 
The night is a sad and dolorous season ; as the 
light, contrarily, is the image of cheerfulness. 
(Eccl. xi. 7.) Like as it is in bodily pains and 



CONSOLATIO. 131 

aches, that they are still worst towards night ; 
so it is in the cares and griefs of the mind ; then 
they assault us most when they are helped on 
by the advantage of an uncomfortable darkness. 
Many men can give themselves songs in the day 
of their prosperity, who can but howl in the night 
of their affliction; but for a Paul and Silas to 
sing in their prison at midnight (Acts xvi. 25) ; 
for an Asaph to "call to remembrance his song in 
the night" (Ps. lxxvii. 6) ; this comes only from 
that Spirit of thine, whose peculiar style is " the 
Comforter;" and surely, as music sounds best in 
the night, so those heavenly notes of praise which 
we sing to Thee, our God, in the gloomy darkness 
of our adversity, cannot but be most pleasing in 
thine ears. Thine Apostle bids us (which is our 
ordinary wont) when we are merry to sing; when 
afflicted to pray ; but if, when we are afflicted, 
we can sing; as also, when we are merriest, we 
can pray ; that song must needs be so much more 
acceptable unto Thee, as it is a more powerful 
effect of the joy of Thy Holy Ghost. 

O my God, I am conscious of my own infirmi- 
ty : I know I am naturally subject to a dull 
heaviness, under whatsoever affliction. Thou, 
that art the God of all comfort, remedy this heart- 
less disposition in me ; pull this lead out of my 
bosom: make me not patient only, but cheerful, 
under my trials : fill Thou my heart with joy, 



132 CONSOLATIO. 

and my mouth with songs, in the night of my 
tribulation. 

As there is a perfect union betwixt the glorious 
saints in heaven, and a union (though imperfect) 
betwixt the saints on earth, so there is a union 
(partly perfect and partly imperfect) between the 
saints in heaven and the saints below upon earth; 
perfect in respect of those glorified saints above, 
imperfect in respect of the weak returns we are 
able to make them again. Let no man think, that 
because those blessed souls are out of sight, far 
distant in another world, and we are here toiling 
in a vale of tears, that we have therefore lost all 
mutual regard to each other; no, there is still, and 
ever will be, a secret but unfailing correspondence 
between heaven and earth. The present happi- 
ness of those heavenly citizens cannot have 
abated aught of their knowledge and charity, but 
must needs have raised them to a higher pitch 
of both. They, therefore, who are now glorious 
comprehensors, cannot but in a generality retain 
the notice of the sad condition of us poor travel- 
lers here below, panting towards our rest together 
with them, and in common wish for the happy 
consummation of this our weary pilgrimage, in 
the fruition of their glory. That they have any 
perspective whereby they can see down into our 
particular wants, is that which we find no ground 
to believe. It is enough that they have an uni- 



CONSOLATIO. 133 

versal apprehension of the estate of Christ's 
warfaring Church upon the face of the earth, 
(Rev. vi. 10) ; and, as fellow-members of the same 
mystical body, long for a perfect glorification of 
the whole. 

As for us wretched pilgrims, who are yet left 
here below to try with many difficulties, we can- 
not forget that better half of us which is now 
triumphant in glory. O ye blessed saints above, 
we honor your memories so far as we ought; we 
do with praise recount your virtues ; we mag- 
nify your victories ; we bless God for your happy 
exemption from the misery of this world, and for 
your estate in that blessed immortality; we 
imitate your holy examples ; we long and pray 
for a happy consociation with you ; we dare not 
raise temples, dedicate altars, direct prayers, to 
you; we dare not, finally, offer any thing to you 
which you are unwilling to receive, nor put any 
thing upon you which you would disclaim as 
prejudicial to your Creator and Redeemer. It is 
abundant comfort to us that some part of us is in 
the fruition of that glory, whereto we (the other 
poor labouring part) desire and strive to aspire; 
that our heads and shoulders are above water, 
whilst the other limbs are yet wading through 
the stream. 

If ever thou look for sound comfort on earth, 
and salvation in heaven, unglue thyself from the 



134 CONSOLATIO. 

world, and the vanities of it; put thyself upon 
thy Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; leave not till 
thou findest thyself firmly united to Him, so as 
thou art become a limb of that body whereof He 
is the Head, a spouse of that husband, a branch 
of that stem, a stone laid upon that foundation. 
Look not, therefore, for any blessing out of Him : 
and in, and by, and from Him, look for all bless- 
ings; let Him be thy life, and wish not to live 
longer than thou art quickened by Him; find 
Him thy wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
redemption ; thy riches, thy strength, thy glory. 
Apply unto thyself all that thy Saviour is, or 
hath done. Wouldst thou have the graces of 
God's Spirit? — fetch them from His anointing. 
Wouldst thou have power against spiritual ene- 
mies? — fetch it from His sovereignty. Wouldst 
thou have redemption? — fetch it from His pas- 
sion. Wouldst thou have absolution? — fetch it 
from His perfect innocence. Freedom from the 
curse? — fetch it from His Cross. Satisfaction? 

— fetch it from His sacrifice. Cleansing from 
sin? — fetch it from his blood. Mortification? 

— fetch it from His grave. Newness of life? — 
fetch it from His resurrection. Right to heaven ? 

— fetch it from His purchase. Audience in all 
thy suits? — fetch it from His intercession. 
Wouldst thou have salvation? — fetch it from 
His session at the right hand of Majesty. Wouldst 



CONSOLATIO. 135 

thou have all ) — fetch it from Him who is u one 
Lord, one God and Father of all, who is above 
all, through all, and in all." (Eph. iv. 5, 6.) 
And as thy faith shall thus interest thee in Christ, 
thy Head ; so let thy charity unite thee to His 
body the Church, both in earth and heaven. 
Hold ever an inviolable communion with that 
holy and blessed fraternity. Sever not thyself 
from it either in judgment or affection. Make 
account there is not one of God's saints upon 
earth but hath a property in thee, and thou may- 
est challenge the same in each of them, so that 
thou canst not but be sensible of their passions; 
and be freely communicative of all thy graces, 
and all serviceable offices, by example, admoni- 
tion, exhortation, consolation, prayer, beneficence, 
for the good of that sacred community. 

And when thou raisest up thine eyes to heaven, 
think of that glorious society of blessed saints 
who are gone before thee, and are now there 
triumphing, and reigning in eternal and incom- 
prehensible glory; bless God for them, and wish 
thyself with them; tread in their holy steps, and 
be ambitious of that crown of glory and immor- 
tality which thou seest shining on their heads. 



136 CONSOLATIO. 



Admirable directions for a sick person to follow. 

When these things are taken care for, let the 
sick man so order his affairs, that he have but 
very little conversation with the world, but wholly 
(as he can) attend to religion, and antedate his 
conversation in heaven, always having intercourse 
with God, and still conversing with the holy 
Jesus ; kissing His wounds, admiring His good- 
ness, begging His mercy, feeding on Him with 
faith, and drinking His blood; to which purpose 
it were very fit (if all circumstances be answer- 
able), that the narrative of the passion of Christ 
be read or discoursed to him at length, or in brief, 
according to the style of the four Gospels : but, in 
all things, let his care and society be as little secu- 
lar as is possible. 

Now we suppose the man entering upon his 
scene of sorrows and passive graces. It may be 
he went yesterday to a wedding, merry and brisk, 
and there he felt his sentence that he must return 
home and die ; then he must consider that all 
those discourses he hath heard concerning patience 
and resignation, and conformity to Christ's suffer- 
ings, and the melancholy lectures of the cross, 
must, all of them, now be reduced to practice, and 
pass from an effective contemplation to such an 
exercise as will really try whether we were true 



CONSOLATIO. \o 7 

disciples of the cross, or only believed the doctrines 
of religion when we were at ease, and that they 
never passed through the ear to the heart, and 
dwelt not in our spirits. But every man should 
consider God does nothing in vain ; that He 
would not, to no purpose, send us preachers, and 
gives us rules, and furnish us with discourse, and 
lend us books, and provide sermons, and make 
examples, and promise His Spirit, and describe 
the blessedness of holy sufferings, and prepare us 
with daily alarms, if He did not really purpose to 
order our affairs, so that we should need all this, 
and use it all. There were no such thing as the 
grace of patience, if we were not to feel a sick- 
ness, or enter into a state of sufferings; whither, 
when we are entered, we are to practise by the 
following rules. 

At the first address and presence of sickness, 
stand still and arrest thy spirit, that it may, with- 
out amazement or affright, consider that this was 
that thou lookedst for, and wert always certain 
should happen : and that now thou art to enter 
into the actions of a new religion, the agony of 
a strange constitution ; but at no hand suffer thy 
spirits to be dispersed with fear or wildness of 
thought, but stay their looseness and dispersion 
by a serious consideration of the present and 
future employment. For so doth the Libyan, 
spying the fierce huntsman, first beats himself 



13S CONSOLATIO. 

with the strokes of his tail, and curls up his 
spirits, making thetn strong with union and recol- 
lection, till, being struck with a Mauritanian spear, 
he rushes forth into his defence and noblest con- 
tention, and either escapes into the secrets of his 
own dwelling, or else dies the bravest of the forest. 
Every man, when shot with an arrow from God's 
quiver, must then draw in the auxiliaries of rea- 
son, and know that then is the time to try his 
strength, and to reduce the words of religion into 
action. Let Him set his heart firm upon this 
resolution : " I must bear it inevitably ; and I will, 
by God's grace, do it nobly." 

Bear, in thy sickness, all along the same 
thoughts, propositions, and discourses, concerning 
thy person, thy life and death, thy soul and reli- 
gion, which thou hadst in the best days of thy 
health ; and when thou didst discourse wisely 
concerning things spiritual. Consider, when you 
were better able to judge and govern the accidents 
of your life, you concluded it necessary to trust 
in God, and possess your souls with patience. 
Think of things as they think who stand by you, 
and as you did when you stood by others : that it 
is a blessed thing to be patient ; that a quietness 
of spirit hath a certain reward ; that still there is 
infinite truth and reality in the promises of the 
Gospel ; that still thou art in the care of God, in 
the condition of a son, and working out thy salva- 



CONSOLATIO. 139 

tion with labour and pain, with fear and trem- 
bling; that now the sun is under a cloud, but it 
still sends forth the same influence. 

Do not choose the kind of thy sickness, or the 
manner of thy death ; but let it be what God 
please, so it be no greater than thy spirit or thy 
patience, and for that you are to rely upon the 
promise of God, and to secure thyself by prayer 
and industry; but in all things else let God be 
thy chooser, and let it be thy work to submit in- 
differently, and attend thy duty. Be importunate, 
that thy spirit and its interest be secured, and let 
Him do what seemeth good in His eyes. And as, 
in the degrees of sickness, thou art to submit to 
God, so in the kind of it (supposing equal degrees) 
thou art to be altogether incurious whether God 
will call thee by a consumption or an asthma, by 
a dropsy or a palsy, by a fever in thy humours, 
or a fever in thy spirits ; because all such nicety 
of choice is nothing but a colour to a legitimate 
impatience, and to make an excuse to murmur 
privately, and for circumstances, when in the sum 
of affairs we durst not own impatience. 

Be patient in the desires of religion, and take 
care that the forwardness of exterior actions do 
not discompose thy spirit ; while thou fearest that 
by less serving God in thy disability, thou run- 
nest backward in the accounts of pardon and the 
favour of God. Be content that the time, which 



140 CONSOLATIO. 

was formerly spent in prayer, be now spent in 
carefulness and attendances ; since God hath 
pleased it should be so, it does not become us to 
think hard thoughts concerning it. Do not think 
that God is only to be found in a great prayer or 
a solemn office ; He is moved by a sigh, by a 
groan, by an act of love ; and therefore, when 
your pain is great and pungent, lay all your 
strength upon it to bear it patiently ; when the 
evil is somewhat more tolerable, let your mind 
think some pious, though short meditation ; let it 
not be very busy, and full of attention, for that 
will be but a new temptation to your patience, and 
render your religion tedious and hateful. If you 
can do more, do it; but if you cannot, let it not 
become a scruple to thee. We must not think 
man is tied to the forms of health, or that he who 
swoons and faints is obliged to his usual forms 
and hours of prayer; if we cannot labour, yet let 
us love ; nothing can hinder us from that but our 
own uncharitableness. 

Be obedient to thy physician in those things 
that concern him, if he be a person fit to minister 
unto thee. God is He only that needs no help, 
and God hath created the physician for thine ; 
therefore use Him temperately, without violent 
confidence ; and sweetly, without uncivil distrust- 
ings. Physicians are the ministers of God's mer- 
cies and providence, in the matter of health and 



CONSOLATIO. 141 

ease, of restitution or death ; and when God shall 
enable their judgments, and direct their counsels, 
and prosper their medicines, they shall do thee 
good, for which you must give God thanks, and 
to the physician the honour of a blessed instru- 
ment : but this cannot always be done. 

Treat thy nurses and servants sweetly, and as 
it becomes an obliged and necessitous person. 
Remember that thou art very troublesome to 
them ; that they trouble not thee willingly ; that 
they strive to do thee ease and benefit ; that they 
wish it, and sigh and pray for it, and are glad if 
thou likest their attendance ; that whatsoever is 
amiss is thy disease, and the uneasiness of thy 
head or thy side, thy distemper or thy disaffec- 
tions; and it will be an unhandsome injustice to 
be troublesome to them, because thou art so to 
thyself. 

Let not the smart of your sickness make you to 
call violently for death ; you are not patient unless 
you be content to live. God hath made sufferance 
to be thy work ; and do not impatiently long for 
evening, lest at night thou findest the reward of 
him that was weary of his work. 



If I felt for the disorder and danger of my soul, 
as I do for my body in pain and sickness, I should 
look oat every way for help; be a thousand times 



. 142 CONSOLATIO. 

more anxious for its recovery than I am ; submit 
to any method of cure, and say unfeignedly to 
God, u Ure, fieri, seca;" that is, " Burn, strike, 
cut." 



Spring time, and the final regeneration. 

Let these be your thoughts, brethren, especially 
in the spring season, when the whole face of nature 
is so rich and beautiful. Once only in the year 
does the world which we see, show forth its hid- 
den powers, and in a manner manifest itself; then 
the leaves come out, and the blossoms on the 
fruit-trees and flowers, and the grass and corn 
spring up. There is a* sudden rush and burst out- 
wardly of that hidden life which God has lodged 
in the material world. Well, that shows you, as 
by a sample, what it can do at God's command, 
when He gives the word. This earth, which now 
buds forth in leaves and blossoms, will one day 
burst forth into a new world of life and glory, in 
which we shall see saints and angels dwelling. 
Who would think, except from his experience of 
former springs, all through his life, — who would 
conceive two or three months before, that it was 
possible that the face of nature, which then seemed 
so lifeless, should become so splendid and vain? 
How different is a tree, how different is a prospect, 



CONSOLATIO. 143 

when leaves are on it and off it ! How unlikely 
it would seem before the event, that the dry and 
naked branches should suddenly be clothed with 
what is so bright and refreshing! Yet in God's 
good time, leaves come on the trees. The season 
may delay, but come it will at last. So it is with 
the coming of that Eternal Spring, for which all 
Christians are waiting. Come it will, though it 
delay ; yet though it tarry, let us wait for it, be- 
cause it will surely come, it will not tarry. There- 
fore, we say day by day, " Thy kingdom come; " 
which means, O Lord, show thyself, manifest 
thyself; Thou that sittest between the cherubims, 
show thyself; stir up thy strength, and come and 
help us. The earth that we see does not satisfy 
us; it is but a beginning; it is but a promise of 
something beyond it: even when it is gayest, with 
all its blossoms on, and shows most touchingly 
what lies hid in it, yet it is not enough. We 
know much more lies hid in it than we see. A 
world of saints and angels, a glorious world, the 
palace of God, the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, the throne of God and 
Christ; all these wonders, everlasting, all-precious, 
mysterious, incomprehensible, lie hid in what we 
see. What we see is the outward shell of an 
eternal kingdom, and on that kingdom we fix the 
eyes of our faith. Shine forth, O Lord, as when 
on thy nativity thine angels visited the shepherds ; 



144 CONSOLATIO. 

let thy glory blossom forth as bloom and foliage ; 
change with thy mighty power this visible world 
into that diviner world, which as yet we see not; 
destroy what we see, that it may pass, and be 
transformed into what we believe. Bright as is the 
sun, and the sky, and the clouds ; green as are 
the leaves and the fields ; sweet as is the singing 
of the birds ; we know that they are not all, and 
we will not take up with a part for the whole. 
They proceed from a centre of love and goodness, 
which is God Himself; but they are not His ful- 
ness ; they speak of heaven, but they are not 
heaven ; they are but as stray beams and dim re- 
flections of His image ; they are but crumbs from 
His table. We are looking for the coming of the 
day of God, when all this outward world, fair 
though it be, shall perish ; when the heavens shall 
be burnt, and the earth melt away. We can bear 
the loss, for we know it will be but the removing 
of a veil. We know that to remove the world 
which is seen, will be the manifestation of the 
world which is not seen. We know that what 
we see is as a screen hiding from us God and 
Christ, and His saints and angels; and we ear- 
nestly desire and pray for the dissolution of all that 
we see, from our love and longing after that which 
we do not see. O blessed they indeed, who are 
destined for a sight of those wonders in which 
they now stand, at which they now look, but 



CONSOLATIO. 145 

which they do not recognize ! Blessed they 
who shall at length behold what as yet mortal 
eye hath not seen, and faith only enjoys ! Those 
wonderful things of the new world are even now 
as they shall be then. They are immortal and 
eternal ; and they who shall then be made con- 
scious of them will see them in their calmness 
and their majesty, where they ever have been. 
But who can express the surprise and rapture 
which will come upon those, who then at least 
apprehend them for the first time, and to whose 
perceptions they are new ? Who can imagine, 
by a stretch of fancy, the feelings of those, who, 
having died in faith, wake up to enjoyment? 
The life then begun, we know, will last for ever; 
yet surely, if memory be to us then what it is 
now. that will be a day much to be observed unto 
the Lord, through all the ages of eternity. We 
may increase, indeed, for ever in knowledge and 
in love ; still that first awakening from the dead, 
the day at once of our birth and our espousal, will 
ever be endeared and hallowed in our thoughts. 
When we find ourselves, after long rest, gifted 
with fresh powers, vigorous with the seed of eter- 
nal life within us, able to love God as we wish, 
conscious that all trouble, sorrow, pain, anxiety, 
and bereavement, is over for ever ; blest in the 
full affection of those earthly friends whom we 
loved so poorly, and could protect so feebly, while 
10 



146 CONSOLATIO. 

they were with us in the flesh ; and, above all, 
visited with the immediate, visible, ineffable pre- 
sence of God Almighty, with His only-begotten 
Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and His co-equal, co- 
eternal Spirit; that great sight in which is the 
fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore ! What 
deep incommunicable and unimaginable thoughts 
will be then upon us ! What depths will be stirred 
up within us ! What secret harmonies awak- 
ened, of which human nature seemed incapable! 
Earthly words are indeed all worthless to minister 
to such high anticipations. Let us close our eyes, 
and keep silence. 



Communion with the invisible world, a source of 
strength and comfort. 

The world is no help-meet for man, and a help- 
meet he needs. No one. man or woman, can 
stand alone; we are so constituted by nature; 
and the world, instead of helping us, is an open 
adversary; it but increases our solitariness. 

Elijah cried, " I only am left, and they seek 
my life to take it away." How did Almighty God 
answer him? By graciously telling him that He 
had reserved to Himself a remnant of seven thou- 
sand true believers. Such is the blessed truth 
He brings home to us also : we may be full of 



CONSOLATIO. 147 

sorrows ; there may be fightings without, and 
fears within : we may be exposed to the frowns, 
censure, or contempt of men ; we may be shunned 
by them, or to take the lightest case, we may be 
(as we certainly shall be) wearied out by the un- 
profitableness of this world, by its coldness and 
unfriendliness, distance and dreariness, we shall 
need something nearer to us. What is our re- 
source 1 It is not in arm of man, in flesh and 
blood, in voice of friend, or in pleasant counte- 
nance; it is that holy home which God has given 
us in His Church: it is in that everlasting city in 
which He has fixed His abode ; it is that mount 
invisible, where angels are looking at us with 
their piercing eyes, and the voices of the dead call 

llo. jt 4fe 4k 4fe -Jfe 

-ft* 'R- TV" TV "tv" 

Leave, then, this earthly scene, O virgin soul; 
aim at a higher prize, a nobler companionship. 
Enter into the tabernacle of God. Satan may do 
his worst; he may afflict thee sore; he may wound 
thee, he may brand thee ; he may cripple thee as 
regards this world, but he cannot touch thee in 
things spiritual ; he has no power over thee to 
bring thee into God's displeasure. O virgin soul, 
let this be thy stay in the dark day. When thou 
art sick of the world, to whom shouldst thou go? 
To none short of Him who is the Heavenly Spouse 
of every faithful soul. 



148 CONSOLATIO. 

Though thou art in a body of flesh, a member 
of this world, thou hast but to kneel down rever- 
ently in prayer, and thou art at once in the society 
of saints and angels. Wherever thou art, thou 
canst, by God's incomprehensible mercy, in a 
moment bring thyself into the midst of God's holy 
Church invisible, and receive secretly that aid, 
the very thought of which is a present sensible 
blessing. Art thou afflicted ? Thou canst pray. 
Art thou merry ? Thou canst sing psalms. Art 
thou lonely, does the day run heavily ? Fall on 
thy knees, and thy thoughts are at once relieved 
by the idea and the reality of thy unseen com- 
panions. Art thou tempted to sin ? Think steadily 
of those who perchance witness thy doings from 
God's secret dwelling-place. Hast thou lost 
friends? Realize them by faith. Art thou slan- 
dered? Thou hast the praise of angels. Art thou 
under trial ? Thou hast their sympathy. 



God, the author of our sorrow. 

In this chapter 1 God points Himself out to us as 
the Author of affliction. He makes no attempt, to 
conceal or disguise himself; on the contrary, He 
rather forces Himself on our notice as the source 
of His people's troubles. It was the Assyrian 

1 Hosea, ii. 



CONSOLATIO. 149 

army that laid Israel waste; it was the cruelty of 
her enemies that desolated her country, and carried 
her into a wretched captivity; but not a word is 
said in this chapter, of man or his violence : the 
God of Israel seems determined to keep all but 
Himself out of our sight. "I," He says, " will 
take away my corn and my wine." "I will des- 
troy her vines and her fig-trees." "I will cause 
all her mirth to cease." " I will visit upon her the 
days of Baalim." "I will bring her into the 
wilderness." Now, why this anxiety in a God of 
love to stand thus forward as the author of misery ; 
and misery, observe, among people He loves the 
most? For two reasons. First, because we are 
so backward in affliction to discern his hand. We 
say, indeed, when it comes, "It is the work of 
God;" but we do not half believe what we say : 
we have no deep or lively impression of its truth. 
There is often lurking within us a conviction 
directly opposed to it: else why that restless 
anxiety in trouble, to look so closely into second 
causes? Why are our minds continually going 
over the circumstances that have led to our cala- 
mities ? Why does one of us say, " Had this been 
let alone, my buried friend might have been 
spared." And another, " Had that been done, my 
poor child might not have sunk." And a third, 
" In any other situation, my withered health might 
have stood firm." 



150 CONSOLATIO. 

There may be some truth in all this, but the 
incessant dwelling of our minds on it shows 
how we labour to push God out of our concerns; 
how unwilling our sinful hearts are in all situations 
to acknowledge or even perceive His hand. 

But He has another reason for ascribing to Him- 
self our trials. We can get no good out of afflic- 
tion, no real comfort under it, till we view it as 
sent to us from Him. The man of the world 
regards affliction as " coming forth of the dust," 
and trouble as " springing out of the ground." It 
is the necessary result, he conceives, of our present 
condition and circumstances; and where is the 
benefit that he derives from sorrow ? It works in 
him no submission, it brings out of him no praise. 
It is when the mind discovers God at the very root 
of its sufferings ; when it sees Him desolating its 
comforts, and robbing it of its joys with His own 
hand; when every grave seems dug by Him, and 
every loss and every pang are felt to be His work ; 
when it cannot banish Him from its thoughts, nor 
disconnect with Him one of its griefs, nor even 
wish to do either : it is then that the soul begins 
to bethink itself, and the heart to soften, and man's 
proud, rebellious, stubborn spirit to give way. 
Then the knee bends, and the prayer goes up, and 
the blessing comes down. Then, for the first 
time, we are quieted and subdued. "I was 
dumb," said David, "and opened not my mouth, 



CONSOLATIO. 151 

because thou didst it." " It is the Lord," said 
Eli; and then that poor old parent could add, 
"Let Him do what seemeth Him good." And 
this conviction will carry us yet farther. Only let 
a man once see that a Father's hand has mingled 
his cup of bitterness, and he will soon do more 
than say, "Shall I not drink it?" His heart may 
be half breaking, but there is something within 
that heart, which, ere he is aware, will force his 
lips to praise. " The Lord gave," said Job, "and 
the Lord hath taken away;" and then comes this 
noble, but yet natural exclamation, " Blessed be 
the name of the Lord." 



What it is to be with Christ. 

" Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast 
given me, be with me where I am, that they may 
behold my glory." l Mark where the presence of 
Christ is to be enjoyed. He prays that we may 
be with Him, " where He is." Now in the Spirit, 
He is every where. He is God, and as God He 
fills all space with His existence : He must speak 
therefore, here, of that world wherein He manifests 
His presence, where He dwells in the body, where 
He even now lives and reigns as the glorified Son 

1 John, xvii. 24. 



152 CONSOLATIO. 

of Man. And this is to be not only with the most 
glorious Being in the universe, but with Him in 
the most glorious place; in the place which He 
calls His own kingdom, His own city, His own 
house ; a world which He has built to show forth 
His power, to declare His greatness by its magni- 
ficence as gloriously as any material things can 
declare it; so gloriously, that when we see it, we 
shall deem it almost worthy to be His dwelling. 
To be with Him there, is to be with Him in a world 
from which all sorrow and sin are excluded, where 
not a single unholy feeling is ever experienced, 
nor a single tear shed, nor sigh breathed ; where 
the weary soul may rest, and the troubled soul be 
quiet, and the tempted soul repose, and the fettered 
soul be free. It is to be with Him not alone, but 
with the highest and best society the universe can 
afford : with cherubim and seraphim, with the 
patriarchs and fathers, with apostles, and prophets, 
and martyrs. It is to meet again in His blissful 
presence the companions of our youth ; the parents, 
and children, and friends, whom death has sepa- 
rated from us, or distance severed, or infirmity 
estranged; and to meet them where death can 
touch them no more, where distance can never in- 
tervene, nor passions disturb. In a word, it is to 
be where the Lord Christ Himself delights to be; 
where He finds the materials of joy for His own 
wonderful soul. It is to see His face in its bright- 



CONSOLATIO. 153 

ness, to hear His voice in His happiness, to sit 
down at His glorified feet. It is for the abased 
members of the body to be united to the triumphant 
Head: it is to meet the Bridegroom in all the 
radiance and joy of the bridal morning ; it is to be 
with the incarnate Jehovah in Jehovah's own 
everlasting heavens. 

With such a prospect before us, shall we not say 
one to another, Let us lift up our heads with joy 
amidst the troubles of an evil world ? We are to 
sojourn in Mesech but a little longer ; we are soon 
to take our leave for ever of the tents of Kedar ; 
we are already within the distant rays of that 
glory which is our sure inheritance ; and can 
the light afflictions of the present time have more 
power to depress, than that (i far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory" has to elevate and 
gladden us] Oh, no! Our concern shall be to 
feel and act like men who»are going to a happy 
and holy Saviour, in a holy and happy world. 
We will labor to have "our conversation in hea- 
ven :' ? to catch something of its spirit before we 
enter into its joy. 



The experience and possession of divine pity is 
better than bodily ease, freedom from trouble, or 
the greatest worldly prosperity. 



154 CONSOLATIO. 

Great suffering, a preparation for great glory. 

Preparation for higher degrees of glory is like- 
wise wrought by the grace of God, through the 
agency of suffering, and should much reconcile us 
to the cup. Grace in our hearts is indeed created, 
planted, and watered, by the hand and Spirit of 
the living God; but it is also strengthened to per- 
fection under His power, by the exercise of afflic- 
tion. Doubt not but that the highest who will 
ascend to glory above, will be found to be among 
those who not only have washed their hearts in the 
Redeemer's blood, — (this is the title to all salva- 
tion,) — but who also have been tried in the refining 
fires of affliction more severely than others. Afflic- 
tion is a school, under the blessing of God, to ripen 
us for an exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 
and vain as is the common imagination, that those 
who are tried here are saved from all sorrow here- 
after, be they united to Christ or not; it is yet a 
true doctrine, that as there are degrees of glory, so 
the most severely afflicted ones, who are also 
believers in Jesus, will shine the brightest in that 
glory; not so much because of their suffering, as 
of the grace wrought to purification in their souls 
by the Spirit of God, through the agency of suf- 
fering. 

Take courage, therefore, any amongst you, be- 
loved, who are the sons and daughters of tribula- 



CONSOLATIO. 155 

tion ; if united to Jesus by a living faith, you are 
training, through your very afflictions, for superior 
glory. The clouds that now darken your horizon 
will soon disappear before the brightness of the 
sun, and your spirit of heaviness shall be ex- 
changed for the garments of joy. Be resting on 
Jesus for all your strength, hope, and deliverance. 
Believe in Him as your pattern, as well as your 
support in every tribulation. Ask of Him in every 
fresh trial, and under every circumstance of the 
trial, Lord, how wouldst Thou have me to act? 
What wouldst Thou have me to do 1 Beg of Him 
increasing submission, and thankfulness of spirit. 
Endeavour to obtain that transcendency of faith 
which sustains the soul above the depression of 
this low world, and the wearying contemplation of 
pain, sorrow, fear, sin, and death ; and strive to 
raise your senses and affections to things above, 
where your compassionate Saviour dwells, and 
whence He will soon return to gather you up with 
Him to His throne, that you may behold His glory. 
Seek of Him the Holy Spirit to intercede within 
you, and to unite your heart to God's heart. He 
is a counsellor and comforter from Christ to His 
distressed ones. He is a guide to lead you into all 
truth, to reveal to you the whole will of your 
Heavenly Father, and to work mightily the power 
of God in your soul; quickening you from sin to 
holiness, and raising you up to all heavenly bless- 
ings with Christ. 



156 CONSOLATIO. 

And suffer not the wicked one to tempt you with 
doubts, fears, unbelief; these evils come from be- 
neath; from above is faith, joy, and hope through 
the power of the Holy Ghost. Be assured, if indeed 
you are Christ's flock, that all shall be well with 
you ; for "all things shall work together for good 
to them that love God ;" and " He who has showed 
you great and sore troubles shall quicken you 
again, and bring you up again from the depths of 
the earth ; He shall increase your greatness, and 
comfort you on every side." Meanwhile, " Fear 
thou not, for I am with thee," saith the Lord ; " be 
not dismayed, for I am thy God ; I will strengthen 
thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee 
with the right hand of my righteousness." 



Thoughts on Patience. 

"For ye have need of patience, that after ye 
have done the will of God, ye might receive the 
promise." l Such is the lesson which the Holy 
Spirit conveys to the suffering members of Christ's 
body, through one whose first admission to the 
Christian faith was marked by this testimony of 
the Lord Himself: "I will show him how great 

1 Heb. x. 36. 



CONSOLATIO. 157 

% 

things he must suffer for my name's sake.' 7 And 
as we follow the course of this great Apostle, we 
find that he was ever conformed to the pattern of 
his Master, the "Man of sorrows." Whatever he 
was ignorant of in the future, this one truth was 
deeply settled in his soul : "The Holy Ghost wit- 
nessed! in every city, that bonds and afflictions 
abide me. " He had counted the cost, and was 
contented to win Christ, while he suffered the 
loss of all things ; and to such a high degree was 
the strength of his Lord perfected in his weak- 
ness, that he could even "glory in tribulation ;" 
he could welcome and embrace it as a precious 
gift from heaven, a distinguishing mark of Christ's 
favour, to be counted worthy to suffer for His 
sake. 

The same grace of patient endurance, of thank- 
ful, rejoicing acquiescence in the severer disci- 
pline of our Heavenly Father's will, has shone 
forth in the saints of every age. Circumstances 
may vary, and the trials of different periods of 
the Church, as well as of its different members, 
may be diverse; but still it stands an unalterable 
law of our militant condition: " In the world ye 
shall have tribulation." 

Like Israel in the wilderness, we "are not yet 
come to the rest, and to the inheritance which the 
Lord our God giveth us." "And there should be 
no greater comfort to Christian persons, than to 



158 CONS0LAT1O. 

§ 

be made like unto Christ, by suffering patiently 
adversities, troubles, and sicknesses : for He Him- 
self went not up to joy, but first He suffered pain ; 
He entered not into His glory before He was 
crucified. So truly our way to eternal joy is 
to suffer here with Christ; and our door to enter 
into eternal life is gladly to die with Christ, that 
we may rise again from death, and dwell with 
Him in everlasting life." l Now, we sow in tears ; 
the time will come when we shall reap in joy. 

1. If we would attain the grace of patience 
under suffering, let us seek first to cultivate a 
deep sense of our own sinfulness. " Wherefore 
doth a living man complain, a man for the pun- 
ishment of his sins?" "Know this, that God 
exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity de- 
serveth." A true sight of the corruption of our 
nature, a conviction of our innumerable depar- 
tures from God, our quenching of His Holy 
Spirit, our insensibility to His love, our earth- 
liness and vanity ; the wide extent of evil in 
heart and life, in word and deed, which a faithful 
self-examination presents to us; all this should 
make us rather wonder that God so lightly afflicts 
us, and that the rod of His displeasure does not 
more severely visit His wayward and disobedient 
children. 

1 Office of " Visitation of the Sick." 



CONSOLATIO. 159 

2. Let ns consider the purpose of God in afflict- 
ing us. " By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be 
purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his 
sin." God knows that without holiness, we can 
have no true happiness : that our hearts can find 
no rest till they are drawn upwards, and centered 
in Him; and therefore He appoints us a continual 
process of purification and refining. Sometimes 
there is the furnace of exceeding sharp affliction; 
long continued bodily suffering; days and nights, 
and months and years, of weariness and anguish ; 
the desire of our eyes taken away with a stroke ; 
then the inward cross of mental trial, the felt 
burden of indwelling corruption, the thorn in the 
flesh, the assaults of Satan, and all the various 
ills and vexations, trials and disappointments, of 
this mortal state. Yet all this is to be welcomed 
as a blessing; yea, it is to be " counted all joy" 
by the heart that knows its God. Every step of 
sanctified suffering is a step nearer to the crown 
of glory. It is a lesson learned in that school of 
obedience, in which as man our blessed Lord 
Himself was perfected ; it is an increased confor- 
mity to the meek and patient Lamb of God ; it is 
precious medicine from the unerring Physician of 
our souls; it is a token of our Heavenly Father's 
special love, refining from dross, and polishing 
from corruption, the blood-bought jewels of His 
grace. God is putting to the test, (it may be of 



160 CONSOLATIO. 

fiery trial.) the faith which He Himself has 
given ; thus grace is strengthened and exercised, 
and the stone is " made ready" for its place in the 
heavenly temple. 

3. Let us habitually contemplate the sufferings 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Light, 
indeed, ought every trial of ours to appear, when 
we think of Him who could say, " Is there any 
sorrow like unto my sorrow ?" In what woe or 
pain, whether of body or mind, can we not find 
in our faithful High Priest the sympathy of an 
infinite sufferer? And all this for our sakes ! O 
my Saviour ; let me be dumb like Thee, and 
never open my mouth in complaining, whatever 
be the bitter cup Thou givest me to drink; for it 
can only be a cup of blessing to thy redeemed 
child, for whom Thou hast borne the curse, and 
exhausted the cup of wrath and indignation. 
Let me not shrink from any fellowship with Thee 
in suffering, who foj* me didst " endure the cross, 
despising the shame," and art now preparing for 
me joys which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to 
conceive." 

4. Let us dwell much on the love and mercy of 
God, exhibited towards us in redemption. While 
we do this, we cannot be greatly moved by the 
sufferings of time. God has not spared His own 
Son for me. Shall I then think that He deals 



CONSOLATIO. 1G1 

hardly in taking away any creature of earth, or 
in depriving me of any gourd in whose shelter I 
was glad? He has granted me spiritual healing; 
shall I complain of bodily pain ? He has given 
me the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; shall I mourn 
over the withered joys of earth? He has given 
me the bright hope of an everlasting home in 
glory ; shall I count it hard to be a pilgrim and a 
stranger during a few short days or years in this 
thorny wilderness? No; rather let my heart be 
soaring upwards to the source of its hidden life, 
in adoring gratitude to the God of my salvation, 
who pitied me in my low estate ; " for His mercy 
endureth for ever ! " 

5. Let us live in a spirit of prayer. Suffering 
times have ever been praying times with the 
saints of God. " In my distress I cried unto the 
Lord, and He heard me," said the Psalmist. 
Hezekiah in his sickness " prayed and wept 
sore.'' Our blessed Saviour, " being in agony, 
prayed more earnestly." There is the relief of 
utterance in pouring out our complaint before 
God. There is the consolation of feeling that we 
are not alone in our sorrows. Man may grow 
weary of us, but not so our sympathizing Lord. 
He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, 
and His ear is ever open to our cry. Ejaculatory 
prayer is a blessed remedy against sudden temp- 
tations to impatience: it lifts the soul above its 
11 



162 CONSOLATIO. 

actual condition ; it lays hold on the strength of 
the Everlasting, brings us into communion with 
Him who is our peace, and calms the troubled 
spirit. Especially should we seek the grace 
of patience and long-suffering as a fruit of the 
Holy Ghost, for it is not a fruit that grows 
on nature's branch. The flesh is all impatience 
and discontent, and can only be subdued to the 
spirit by the mighty power of God. 

6. Let us beware of looking on any trial with 
the eye of sense. Faith in the midst of suffering 
is like the tree cast into the bitter waters of 
Marah, which made them sweet. But sense 
only adds fuel to the flame of impatience. God 
is present with the soul when faith is in exercise : 
it is left to its own utter weakness when sight 
prevails. Faith is content that God should order 
and appoint every event and circumstance : sense 
would blindly dictate to Him, and choose a path 
of ease and self-indulgence. 

7. Let us consider the shortness of time, and 
dwell deeply on the thought of eternity and of the 
coming of Christ. " Yet a little while, and he 
that shall come will come, and will not tarry." 
Then will He give rest to the weary, and conso- 
lation to the sorrowful. Their peace shall be as a 
river, ever flowing; they shall have entered into 
" the joy of their Lord," a joy that fears no vicissi- 
tude. Their sun shall never more go down, nor 



C0NS0LAT10. 163 

shall the passing shadow of a cloud obscure the 
bright shining of its rays. 

And let us remember, that even now God fore- 
knows the weight and duration of our trials. He 
sees the end from the beginning, and the happy- 
issue out of all our afflictions which he has in 
store for us. It may be very, very soon, " O thou 
afflicted with tempest, and not comforted ! that he 
will lay thy stones with fair colours, and thy foun- 
dations with sapphires." " Thou shalt forget thy 
misery, and remember it as waters that pass 
away." Surely there is an end, may be said of 
every thing, save of the rest that remaineth for 
the people of God. 

Suffering seems long and weary, and for the 
present grievous; yet it is but a little moment, a 
twinkling of an eye, compared with the everlast- 
ing inheritance of the saints in light, when the 
days of their mourning shall be ended. " When 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for 
the former things are passed away." "All the 
days of my appointed time will I wait, till my 
change come." " For I reckon that the suffer- 
ings of this present time are not worthy to be 
compared with the glory that shall be revealed in 
us." 



164 CONSOLATIO. 

In affliction, see the necessity of it, and be 
humbled; see the use of it, and improve it; see 
the love there is in it, and be thankful. I know 
of no greater blessing than health, except pain and 
sickness. 



Comfort to the Christian, that God knows him. 

You who are sufferers, whether from sickness, 
or sorrow, or sin ; and patient sufferers for the 
Lord's sake, He says to each of you, " I know 
how thou hast borne, i. e. suffered, and hast pa- 
tience, and for my sake hast labored, and not 
fainted." (Rev. ii. 3.) Your Lord has known 
many a secret trial, many an hour of sorrow and 
affliction, through which you have passed, and 
which the world has never known. Your Lord 
has seen your domestic difficulties, your per- 
sonal troubles, your moments of secret anguish, 
perhaps unrevealed even to your dearest friend ; 
for there are sorrows which ought not and cannot 
be communicated, but to God alone: and yet you 
have not fainted, but persevered, and for His 
name's sake hast patience. Of all these He says 
in the language of commendation, "I know" 
them; I know your every prayer for guidance, 
your every effort to bear patiently and contentedly 
what I have laid upon you, and to profit by the 



CONSOLATIO. 165 

visitation ; to hear the rod, and Him who appoint- 
ed it ; your every endeavour against evil tempers 
and evil habits. All these tilings, which man can 
never know, are known and valued by me. How 
delightful is the reflection to the child of God, 
that we have to do with One who judges not 
as sinners judge, and who feels not as even 
the holiest friend on earth can feel towards our 
patient endurance, our shortenings, or our slow 
advancings, but who looks even at the most 
feeble as children still ; and while those around 
may blame us that we have borne our trials 
no better, and have advanced no farther and 
no faster on the heavenward road, He, that mer- 
ciful Redeemer, commends us, that we are still 
upon the road, and "have not fainted." 



Suffering not strange. Communion with Christ in 
trial and in glory. 

"Think it not strange," 1 for it is not. Suit your 
thoughts to the experience and verdict of all 
times, and to the warnings that the Spirit of God 
hath given us in the Scriptures, and our Saviour 
Himself from His own mouth, and in the ex- 

1 1 Pet. iv. 12. 



166 CONSCLATIO. 

ample which He showed in His own person. But 
the point goes higher. 

"Rejoice." Though we think not the suffer- 
ings " strange," yet may we not well think that 
rule somewhat strange, to rejoice in them? No; 
it will be found as reasonable as the other, being 
duly considered ; and it rests upon the same 
ground which will bear both, " Inasmuch as ye 
are partakers of the sufferings of Christ." 

So, then, 1. Consider this twofold connected 
participation of the sufferings of Christ, and of the 
after-glory. 2. The present joy, even in suffer- 
ings, springing from that participation. 

I need not tell you that this communion in suf- 
ferings is not in point of expiation, or satisfaction 
to Divine justice, which was the peculiar end of the 
sufferings of Christ personal, but not of the com- 
mon sufferings of Christ mystical. " He bare our 
sins in his own body on the tree;" and in bearing 
them, took them away : we bear His sufferings, 
as His body united to Him by His Spirit. Those 
sufferings which were His personal burdeh we 
partake the sweet fruits of; they are accounted 
ours, and we are acquitted by them : but the 
endurance of them was His high and incommu- 
nicable task, in which none at all were with 
Him. Our communion in these, as fully com- 
pleted by Himself in His natural body, is the 
ground of our comfort and joy in those sufferings 



CONSOLATIO. 167 

that are completed in His mystical body, the 
Church. 

This is indeed our joy, that we have so light a 
burden, so sweet an exchange; the weight of sin 
quite taken off our backs, and all bound on His 
cross only ; and our crosses, the badges of our 
conformity to Him, laid indeed on our shoulders, 
but the great weight of them likewise held up by 
His hand, that they overpress us not. These fires 
of our trial may be corrective, and purgative of 
the remaining power of sin, and they are so in- 
tended ; but Jesus Christ alone, in the sufferings 
of His own cross, was the burnt-offering, " the 
propitiation for our sins." 

Now, although He hath perfectly satisfied for 
us, and saved us by His sufferings, yet this con- 
formity to Him in the way of suffering is most 
reasonable. Although our holiness doth not stand 
in point of law, nor come in at all in the matter 
of justifying us, yet we are called and appointed 
to holiness in Christ, as assimilating us to Him, 
our glorious Head; and we do really receive it 
from Him, that we may be like Him. So these 
our sufferings bear a very congruous likeness to 
Him, though in no way as an accession to His in 
expiation, yet, as a part of His image ; and there- 
fore the Apostle says, even in this respect, that we 
are " predestinated to be conformed to the image 
of his Son." (Rom. viii. 29.) 



168 CONSOLATIO. 

Is it fit that we should not follow where our 
Captain led. and went first, but that He should 
lead through rugged, thorny ways, and we pass 
about to get a way through flowery meadows? 
As His natural body shared with His head in His 
sufferings, so ought His body mystical to share 
with Him, as its head, the buffetings and spittings 
on His face, the thorny crown on His head, a 
pierced side, nailed hands and feet. If we be 
parts of Him, can we think that a body finding 
nothing but ease, and bathing in delight, can 
agree to a Head so tormented ? I remember 
what that pious duke said at Jerusalem, when 
they offered to crown him king there, " Nolo 
auream, ubi Christies spineam" "No crown 
of gold, where Jesus was crowned with thorns." 

This is the way we must follow, or else resolve 
to leave Him : the way of the cross is the royal 
way to the crown. He said it, and reminded 
them of it again, that they might take the deep 
impression of it : " Remember what I said unto 
you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If 
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute 
you : if they have kept my saying, they will keep 
yours also." (John xv. 20.) And particularly 
in point of reproaches : " If they have called the 
master Beelzebub, how much more shall they 
call them of his household 1 " (Matt. x. 25.) A 
bitter scoff, an evil name, reproaches for Christ, 



CONSOLATIO. 109 

why do these fret thee? They were a part of 
thy Lord's entertainment while He was here. 
Thou art even in this a " partaker of his suffer- 
ings " and in this way He is bringing thee for- 
ward to the partaking of His glory. That is the 
other thing. 

"When his glory shall be revealed." Now 
that He is hidden, little of his glory is seen. It 
was hidden while He was on earth, and now it is 
hidden in heaven, where He is ; and as for His 
body here, His Church, it hath no pompous dress, 
nor outward splendour ; and the particular parts of 
it, the saints, are poor despised creatures, the very 
refuse of men in outward respects and common 
esteem. So He Himself is not seen ; and His 
followers, the more they are seen and looked on 
by the world's eye, the more their meanness 
appears. True, as in the days of His humiliation, 
some rays were breaking forth through the veil of 
His flesh and the cloud of His low despicable 
condition; thus it is sometimes with His follow- 
ers : a glance of His image strikes the very eye of 
the world, and forces some acknowledgment and 
a kind of reverence in the ungodly; but common- 
ly Christ and His followers are covered with all 
the disgraces and ignominies the world can put 
on them. But there is a day wherein He will ap- 
pear, and it is at hand; and "He shall be glori- 
ous, even in His despised saints," and "admired 



170 CONSOLATIO. 

in them that believe/' (2 Thess. i. 10.) How 
much more in the brightness of His own glorious 
person ! 

In the mean time, He is hidden, and they are 
hidden in Him. "Our life is hid with Christ in 
God." (Col. iii. 3.) The world sees nothing of 
His glory and beauty, and even His own see not 
much ; they have but a little glimmering of Him, 
and of their own happiness in Him; know little 
of their own high condition, and what they are 
born to. But in that bright, day, He shall shine 
forth in His royal dignity, and " every eye shall 
see Him," and be overcome with his splendour. 
Terrible shall it be to those that formerly despised 
Him and His saints, but to them it shall be the 
gladdest day that ever arose upon them, a day 
that shall never set or be benighted ; the day they 
so much longed and looked out for, the full 
accomplishment of all their hopes and desires. 
Oh, how dark were all our days without the hope 
of this day ! 

11 Then," says the Apostle, " ye shall rejoice with 
exceeding joy;" and to the end you may not fall 
short of that joy in the participation of glory, fall 
not back from a cheerful progress in the commu- 
nion of those sufferings that are so closely linked 
with it, and will so surely lead unto it, and end in 
it : for in this the Apostle's expression, this glory 
and joy is set before them as the great matter of 



CONSOLATIO. 171 

their desires and hopes, and the certain end 
of their present sufferings. 

Now, upon these grounds, the admonition will 
appear reasonable, and not too great a demand, 
" to rejoice " even in "sufferings." 

It is true that passage in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, chap. xii. ver. 11, opposes present afflic- 
tion to joy. But, 1. If you mark, it is but in the 
appearance, or outward visage. It seemeth not 
to be matter of joy, but of grief. To look upon, 
it hath not a smiling countenance ; yet joy may be 
under it. And, 2. Though to the flesh it is what 
it seems — grief, and not joy — yet there may 
be under it spiritual joy ; yea, the affliction itself 
may help and advance that joy. 3. Through the 
natural sense of it, there will be some alloy 
or mixture of grief, so that the joy cannot be 
pure and complete, but yet there may be joy even 
in it. This, the Apostle here clearly grants : "Re- 
joice " now " in" suffering, that you may " rejoice 
exceedingly" after it, "leaping for joy." Doubt- 
less, this joy at present is but a little parcel, a 
drop of that sea of joy. Now it is joy, but more 
is reserved. Then they shall leap for joy. Yet 
even at present rejoice in "trial," yea, in "fiery 
trial." This may be done. The children of God 
are not called to so sad a life as the world imag- 
ines : besides what is laid up for them in heaven, 
they have, even here, their rejoicings and songs 



172 CONSOLATIO. 

in their distresses, as those prisoners had their 
psalms even at midnight, after their stripes, and 
in their chains, before they knew of a sudden de- 
liverance. (Acts xvi. 25.) True, there may be a 
darkness within, clouding all the matter of their 
joy : but even that darkness is the seed-time 
of after-joy: light is sown in that darkness, and 
shall spring up ; and not only shall they have a 
rich crop at full harvest, but even some first-fruits 
of it here, in pledge of the harvest. 

And this they ought to expect, and to seek 
after, with minds humble and submissive, as to 
the measure and time of it, that they may be par- 
takers of spiritual joy, and may by it be enabled 
to go patiently, yea, cheerfully, through the tribu- 
lations and temptations that lie in their way home- 
ward ; and for this end they ought to endeavour 
after a more clear discerning of their interest in 
Christ, that they may know they partake of Him; 
and so, that in suffering they are partakers of His 
sufferings, and shall be partakers of His glory. 

Many afflictions will not cloud and obstruct 
this, so much as one sin ; therefore, if ye would 
walk cheerfully, be most careful to walk holily. 
All the winds about the earth make not an earth- 
quake, but only that within. 

Now, this joy is grounded on this communion, 
1. in sufferings; then, 2. in glory. 

1. Even in sufferings themselves. It is a sweet. 



CONSOLATIO. 173 

a joyful thing, to be a sharer with Christ in any 
thing. All enjoyments wherein He is not, are 
bitter to a soul that loves Him, and all sufferings 
with Him are sweet. The worst things of Christ 
are more truly delightful than the best things of 
the world; His afflictions are sweeter than their 
pleasures, His " reproach" more glorious than 
their honours, and more rich than their treasures, 
as Moses accounted them. (Heb. xi. 26.) Love 
delights in likeness and communion, not only in 
things otherwise pleasant, but in the hardest and 
harshest things, which have not any thing in them 
desirable, but only that likeness. So that this 
thought is very sweet to a heart possessed with 
this love. What does the world by its hatred and 
persecutions, and revilings for the sake of Christ, 
but make me more like Him, give me a greater 
share with Him in that which He did so willingly 
undergo for me? " When he was sought for to 
be made a king," as St. Bernard remarks, "He 
escaped; but when he was to be brought to the 
cross, He freely yielded Himself." And shall I 
shrink and creep back from what He calls me to 
suffer for His sake ? Yea, even all my other 
troubles and sufferings I will desire to have 
stamped thus, with this conformity to the suffer- 
ings of Christ, in the humble, obedient, cheerful 
endurance of them, and the giving up my will to 
my Father's. 



174 CONSOLATIO. 

The following of Christ makes any way pleasant. 
His faithful followers refuse no march after Him, 
be it through deserts, and mountains, and storms, 
and hazards, that will affright self-pleasing, easy 
spirits. Hearts kindled and actuated with the 
Spirit of Christ will "follow him wheresoever he 
goeth." 

As He speaks it for warning to His disciples, 
u If they persecuted me, they will also persecute 
you;" so He speaks it for comfort to them, and 
sufficient comfort it is, Ci If they hate you, they 
hated me before you." (John xv. 18, 20.) 

2. Then add the other : see whither it tends. 
" He shall be revealed in his glory," and ye shall 
even overflow with joy in the partaking of that 
glory ; therefore rejoice now in the midst of all 
your sufferings. Stand upon the advanced ground 
of the promises and the covenant of grace, and by 
faith look beyond this moment, and all that is in 
it, to that day wherein " everlasting joy shall be 
upon your heads," a crown of it, and sorrow and 
mourning shall flee away. (Isa. li. 11.) Believe in 
this day, and the victory is won. Oh ! that blessed 
hope, well fixed, and exercised, would give other 
manner of spirits. What zeal of God would it not 
inspire ! What invincible courage against all en- 
encounters ! How soon will this pageant of the 
world vanish that men are gazing on, — these 
pictures, and fancies of pleasures and honours 



CONSOLATIO. 175 

falsely so called, — and give place to the real glory 
of the sons of God, when this blessed Son, who is 
God, shall be seen appearing in full majesty, and 
all His brethren in glory with Him, all clothed in 
their robes ! And if you ask, Who are they 1 
Why, " these are they who came out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes in the 
blood of the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 14.) 



It is easy to say, Blessed be God in every thing ; 
but where is the man that is always pleased with 
God? 



Jesus Christ, an High Priest, merciful and faithful. 

" In all things it behoved Him to be made like 
unto His brethren ; " that he might be, not only 
an High Priest, but "an High Priest merciful and 
faithful." l Here we see the care and tenderness 
of God. Whom do we so readily trust as one 
whom we know to be able to enter into our con- 
dition ? Who is best fitted to comfort mourners ? 
He who has mourned Himself. Who can best tell 
the dangers of prosperity? He who has pros- 
pered Himself. Who can tell us what sickness is? 
He whose head has often throbbed with pain. It 

1 Heb. ii. 17. 



176 CONSOLATIO. 

is so throughout; and we never can tell exactly 
what human sufferings and human sorrows are, 
until we have ourselves suffered and wept. It is 
on this account that different classes of men do 
not exactly understand and trust each other. The 
poor man thinks that the rich man cannot quite 
tell what the pinch of poverty is ; and the rich 
man, that his poor neighbour does not know the 
thorns that are in his downy pillow, or the bitters 
that are in his golden cup. To meet this human 
want, Jesus became our brother; He took on Him 
our nature, and with it all its feelings and all its 
frailties; and thus it is that now, everyone, of 
whatever class and condition, can look to Him 
with confidence. The poor can look to Him, for 
He was emphatically a poor man ; the rich, for 
He wore the nature which the rich man wears. 
The young can look to Him, for He was once 
young ; He lay in a mother's bosom, He trod a 
nursery floor, He was subject to a father's autho- 
rity. The full-grown man can look to Him, for 
He felt the sorrows which the full-grown man 
must sooner or later feel. With the dying He 
can sympathize, for He bowed His own sacred 
head, in the hour of darkness, before the power of 
death. 

He is thus "a merciful," or (as it may be trans- 
lated) a " pitiful High Priest." He feels for those 
for whom He intercedes. When we come to Him 



CONSOLATIO. 177 

in weakness and weariness, our bodies oppressed 
by disease, our minds weighed down by care, we 
come to One who has Himself felt oppression of 
body and weariness of mind, and we know that 
He pities us — for He cannot forget — man may 
forget ; and it often happens that he who has been 
in a low estate will lose the memory of the trials 
he then experienced ; and should he be advanced 
higher, will trample unfeelingly upon those who 
were once his equals. It is not so with Jesus ! 
He is "faithful and true," as well as "merciful 
and pitiful." He remembers what human weak- 
ness is : He recalls it when the mourner is before 
Him ; He looks upon His beating heart, upon His 
tearful ere, upon His pale cheek, upon His anx- 
ious brow, and He seems to say, "I once wept, I 
once was pale, I once was sorrowful ; O my Father, 
have compassion on this poor suppliant, as Thou 
once in the days of my flesh hadst compassion on 
me ! " Verily, He is a merciful, a pitiful High 
Priest! Verily, "He knoweth our frame" by 
personal experience ; " He remembereth that we 
are dust! " 

But, again, He is said to be "faithful." His 
faithfulness consists in His earnest and constant 
intercession for His brethren ; He pleads as for 
His own flesh and blood; He does not forget that 
He was Himself a man. Perhaps we may thus 
12 



178 CONSOLATIO. 

illustrate this part of His character. If a man 
make a promise while he is in a certain situation, 
as long as he remains in that situation he will be 
likely to remember it; many things will call it to 
his mind; but if his situation be changed, — if he 
go to other places, form other connections, or enter 
into other pursuits, he is too apt to forget the past, 
and its feelings and its promises. Now Jesus is 
ever the same. His heart is unchanged — un- 
changeable : He is passed into the heavens, but 
He is still the God-man, the God incarnate, and 
still feels in perfect sympathy and brotherhood 
with man. 

What solid comfort does this consideration afford 
us. The atoning sacrifice was made eighteen 
hundred years ago, but the Victim is still fresh 
before the throne ; the Lamb lies bleeding on the 
altar ; the blood still seems to flow ; the High 
Priest still and for ever offers the Eternal Sacrifice ; 
He is pitiful and faithful ! — in glory, but not for- 
getful of His shame ; in heaven, but not unmind- 
ful of earth ; in company with God His Father 
but bearing upon the palms of His hands, upon 
His jewelled breastplate, and upon His swelling- 
heart, the names and the memories of His own 
ransomed brethren. 



CONSOLATIO. 179 



The sight of God, the souVs reward. 

If such a single sincere spirit be in you, it comes 
of God : it is a sign of the seal of the Holy One 
setting you apart to eternal life : it is a proof of the 
operation of the grace of Christ in your heart ; of 
your being a child of God, as led by His Spirit. 
If, then, rooted and grounded in Christ by godly 
repentance and self-abasement for your sins, and 
earnest reliance of belief on His sacrifice for your 
reconciliation with God ; if in this spirit of faith 
and of love you are patiently walking with Him 
in singleness and sincerity of heart, be comforted 
with the assurance that you are of that number 
whom He is pleased to call pure in heart, and in 
whom, as in a temple, He promises to dwell. 

And then, what shall be your recompence of 
reward hereafter ? Hear the word of the Lord of 
all grace: " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
shall see God." The revelation of God in glory, 
Father, Son, and Spirit ; and the admission per- 
petual into the unclouded presence of His love, joy, 
and praise, are the exceeding high reward held 
out to all those who are purified in heart : a proof 
how transcendently excellent the most Blessed 
God must be, since even to behold Him is the con- 
summation of the happiness of His beloved people. 



180 CONSOLATIO. 

The revelation of God is the most sublime enjoy- 
ment that the soul of man, intelligent and immor- 
tal as it is, refined and sanctified as by grace it 
may be. is yet capable of. The least and faintest 
glimpses which here we taste of Him are the most 
sweet, the most sacred, the most elevated delight 
we know; in Him is the fountain of life; but 
hereafter the pure in heart shall behold Him face 
to face; they shall be abundantly satisfied with 
the fatness of His house, and made to drink of the 
rivers of His heavenly pleasures. 

And shall they indeed see God? Shall mortal 
man stand upright before His Maker ? Then shall 
they see Him who no longer opposes the blank of 
His offended justice and His terrible holiness 
before their unrighteousness, and ascends in the 
majesty of a Judge ; but they shall see Him as a 
father, a reconciled father, who embraces them in 
the arms of His mercy, who abhors not to call them, 
and comfort them as sons, who has gathered 
them beneath the wings of His parental love, 
through the intercession of His Divine Son, in 
order to exalt them into the presence of His 
glory ! 

Shall they see God ? Then shall they behold 
that Saviour who emptied Himself of all His glory, 
and became man, for their redemption. Then 
shall they see that loving and lowly Shepherd, who 



CONSOLATIO. 



181 



laboured, wrought, wept, agonized, for their Bakes; 
who bared the breast of His compassion to the full 
fury of the storm of Almighty wrath, — wrath 
and anguish unutterable ; compounded of the judg- 
ment of heaven, the ingratitude of earth, and the 
fiercest malice of hell ; wrath that terminated in 
the extinction of His life, and the shedding of His 
blood on the accursed cross. Moreover, that lov- 
ing Saviour, who ceased not His compassions with 
His mortal life, but who lives again, and for ever- 
more, specially to appear and advocate their cause 
in the presence of the Father ; specially also to 
hear and answer their supplications, to receive 
and dispense His Spirit of grace, to exercise the 
government of heaven and earth for their preser- 
vation, and to prepare for them mansions of divine 
rest. This Saviour whom, here below, without 
seeing, they loved and rejoiced in with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory, the pure in heart shall 
behold on His heavenly throne, encompassed with 
His armies of angels, and shining above the sun in 
brightness. 

And shall they see God? Neither then shall 
they be without the sight of that blessed Com- 
forter and Counsellor, even the Holy Ghost, who 
led, and taught, and guided them; who bore with 
all their rebellion and perverseness ; who dwelt 
within their souls, shedding abroad His light and 
life, His peace and holiness, to their sanctification ; 



182 CONSOLATIO. 

and whose mighty power has raised their mortal 
bodies to incorruption and immortality. 

Shall they, I ask once more, see God? Oh, 
then ! they shall be like Him too. The beloved 
disciple instructs us concerning this: "We shall 
be like him, for we shall see him as he is:" and 
the Psalmist : " I shall be satisfied, when I awake 
with thy likeness." Then shall be brought to 
pass that most gracious desire of our Lord, that 
His own should be altogether united, and should 
be one with Him even as He is with the Father ; 
and when His will that those whom the Father 
has given Him may be with Him where He is, to 
behold His glory, shall be fulfilled, to His eternal 
praise. 

In that day God, in all the glory of His Person, 
Father, Son, and Spirit; God, in all the glory of 
His perfections, wisdom, righteousness, faithful- 
ness, lovingkindness ; God in His unclouded glory 
of love, light, and life; shall be revealed to the 
admiring, adoring eyes of His chosen and beloved 
ones. Shall we see God? O, brethren! do we 
desire to see Him ? Well, then, may we inquire : 
Lord, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? — who 
shall ascend to the throne of thy majesty? The 
Scripture answers, "The pure in heart shall see 
God." Then let us seek the mighty influence of 
the Holy Spirit, so to cleanse and purify our hearts 
by faith as to entitle us to that most blessed sight, 



CONSOLATIO. X83 

and that high and holy habitation ; and to make 
us one with God, even as He is one with 
Christ. 

Real heartfelt submission to the will of God, in 
pain, sickness, crosses, every thing, never was 
the work of a man's own spirit ; and when it 
comes from above, in answer to prayer, is full 
amends for all we can suffer. 



TJie blessedness of the faithful departed. 

"I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, 
Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the 
Lord from henceforth. Even so, saith the Spirit; 
for they rest from their labours." l Not as the 
heretics of old vainly and coldly dreamed, as if 
they slept without thought, or stir of consciousness, 
from the hour of death to the morning of the resur- 
rection. Their rest is not the rest of a stone, 
cold and lifeless, but of wearied humanity. They 
rest from their labours ; they have no more perse- 
cution, nor stoning, nor scourging, nor crucify- 
ing; no more martyrdoms by fire, or the wheel, or 
barbed shafts; they have no more false witnesses, 
nor cutting tongues ; no more bitterness of heart, 

1 Rev. xiv. 13. 



184 CONSOLATIO. 

nor iron entering into the soul; no more burdens 
of wrong, nor amazement, nor perplexity. Never 
again shall they weep for unkindness, and disap- 
pointment, and withered hopes, and desolation of 
heart. All is over now ; they have passed under 
the share. "The ploughers ploughed upon their 
back, and made long furrows;" but it is all over, 
never to begin again. They rest, too, from the 
weight of " the body of our humiliation," — from 
its sufferings and pains. Their last sickness is 
over ; they shall never again bear the tokens of 
coining dissolution; no more the hollow eye, and 
the sharp lines of distress, and the hue of a fading 
loveliness. Now is their weariness changed into 
refreshment; their weakness into excellence of 
strength; their wasting into a spirit ever new; 
their broken words into the perfection of praise ; 
their weeping into a chant of bliss. And not only 
so, but they rest also from their warfare against 
sin, — against all its strength, and subtilties, and 
snares. Satan can tempt no more ; the world can- 
not lure; self cannot betray ; they have wrestled 
out the strife with the unseen powers of the 
wicked one, and they have won the mastery. 
There is no more inward struggle, no sliding back 
again, no swerving aside, no danger of falling; 
they have gained the shore of eternal peace. 
Above all, they rest from the sufferings of evil in 
themselves. It is not persecution nor oppression, 



CONSOLATIO. 185 

nor the rage of Satan, nor the thronging assaults 
of temptation, that so afflicts a holy man, as the 
consciousness that evil dwells in his own inmost 
soul. It is the clinging power of spiritual evil that 
sullies his whole being; it seems to run through 
him in every part ; it cleaves to every movement 
of his life; his living powers are hindered and 
biassed by its grasp. Evil tempers in sudden 
flashes; unholy thoughts shooting across the soul, 
kindling fires in the imagination; thoughts of self 
in holiest seasons ; consciousness of self in holiest 
acts ; indevoutness of spirit; earthliness of heart ; 
dull musing heaviness in the life of God : all 
these burden the highest saint with a most 
oppressive weight. He feels always the stretch 
and tension of his spiritual frame, as a man that 
is weary and breathless, grappling with a foe, 
whom, if he would live, he must hold powerless 
to the earth. 

But from all this, too, they rest. The sin 
that dwelt in them died when through death 
they began to live. The unimpeded soul puts 
forth its new-born life, as a tree in a kindly soil 
invited by a gentle sky ; all that checked it has 
passed away; all that draws it into ripeness 
bathes it with fostering power. Then at last shall 
the bride hear the bridegroom's voice, "Rise up, 
my love, my fair one, and come away ; for lo ! 
the winter is past, the rain is over and gone." 



186 CONSOLATIO. 

The Refiner shall perfect his work upon them, 
cleansing them seven-fold, even as gold is some- 
times tried, and all the taints and bias of their 
spiritual being shall be detached and .corrected ; 
till, by direct and intense vision, — not as now 
in a glass darkly, but then face to face, — shall 
they become pure even as He is pure. Hidden as 
is the condition of their sleep, may we not believe 
that they remember us ? How much of all that 
they were must they forfeit, if they lose both 
memory and love ! Shall we think that we can 
remember Bethel, and Gibeon, and the Valley of 
Ajalon, and Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives ; 
but that Jacob, and Joshua, and David, and 
the beloved disciple, remember them not? Or 
shall the lifeless dust that their feet stood upon be 
remembered, and the living spirits above, that 
dwelt with them, be clean forgotten? May we 
not think that they who live unto God, live in the 
unfolded sameness of personal identity, replenished 
with charity, and filled with a holy light? They 
reach backwards in spirit into their world of 
warfare, and onward in blissful expectation to the 
day of Christ's coming; and in that holy waiting 
they adore, as the brightness of paradise ever 
waxes unto the perfect day, when the noontide of 
God's kingdom " shall be as the light of seven 
days," and shall stand for ever in a meridian 
splendour. He hath made His rest to be "glo- 



CONSOLATIO. 187 

rious;" and there is He gathering in His jewels. 
There is the multitude of saints waiting and 
worshipping; Abel is there, and Isaiah, and 
Rachel who would not be comforted, and the 
sonless widow, and Mary Magdalene, and all 
martyrs, and all the holy ones of God. They 
wore out with patience the years of this toilsome 
life, and they are resting now; they " sleep in 
Jesus." Their's is a bliss only less perfect than 
the glory of His kingdom, when the new creation 
shall be accomplished. 



The unobserved, but true participation of the Cross. 

Let us understand what that cross is of which 
all must be partakers; not the visible material 
cross, but that which is more real than the reality 
of fleshly crucifixion. It is not so much by suffer- 
ings in the body as in the spirit, that we are 
likened to Him. The railing thief was more 
nearly conformed to His visible passion than all, 
save one or two, in all the multitude of saints. 
Yet, though conformed to Him in the flesh, he 
was not likened to Him in the spirit. St. John 
and the blessed Virgin did not suffer indeed in the 
flesh, yet were they truly nailed with Him upon 
His cross. So in all ages of the Church, kings 



188 CONSOLATIO. 

and princes, no less than bishops and pastors of 
His flock, not only in sackcloth and solitude, but 
in soft clothing and in the throng of royal courts, 
have borne the marks of the Lord Jesus, and 
shared the reality of His Passion. Weak women 
too, moving in silence, and a veil, unseen of the 
world, and never breathed on by its' rough oppo- 
sitions, have both carried their cross with Him, 
and on it hung beside Him : they have died with 
Him in will, and in sacrifice of self; in mortify- 
ing the choices and affections of their earthlier 
nature; in a glad forsaking of bright hopes and 
fair promises in life, sitting at His feet without 
distraction, and bearing withal a burden of many 
sorrows, partly the awful tokens of their Master's 
love, and partly laid upon them by the wrong and 
enmity of the world. Among many samples, let 
this one suffice. We read in the life of one, to 
whom was meted out a death-sickness of uncom- 
mon anguish, that as she drew near the end, for a 
long season she was uncheered by the divine con- 
solations which were the wonted stay of her soul. 
She complained in sadness to her spiritual guide 
of this strange and appalling desolation, until she 
learned to seek in it the gift of a higher conformi- 
ty to Him, who in His last passion cried aloud, 
"My God, my God, why has Thou forsaken 
me?" In like manner there is many a sorrow 
fearfully hidden from the world's hard gaze. 



CONSOLATIO. 1S9 

many an overlooked affliction, many a piercing 
of hearts by the lesser sharpnesses of our common 
griefs, which not the less, when borne in silence 
for God, makes the mourning spirit to partake of 
His mysterious cross. 



Cod ? s design is to bring us happily to Himself 
in another world, and He will leave no means 
unessayed for this purpose. If we have the same 
end in view, and look up to Him as carrying it 
on steadily for us, we may be happy both here 
and hereafter : if we have not, the consequence 
must necessarily be despondency, vexation, and 
fretfulness, at the ways of Providence. 



A thorough entering into GocPs plan for our cure, the 
only safety. 

The state of heart in which alone salvation 
consists, and on which alone the favour and bless- 
ing of God can rest, is a turning from the flesh, 
and a returning to God, and a trusting in Him 
as the true rest, and life, and direction of our 
souls. It is the condition of a heart, which, re- 
jecting all other confidence than God, commits 
itself unreservedly to His hands, that its purpose 
in its creation and redemption may be fully 



190 CONSOLATIO. 

accomplished, and which makes this surrender of 
itself to Him, in the full knowledge both of its 
own sinfulness and liability to punishment, and 
of His determination to punish sin, and to slay 
the flesh which has been tainted by sin. Such 
a confidence, it is evident, can only have place in 
a heart, which, believing that it is the loving 
desire and purpose of God to make it blessed by 
making it holy, enters fully into that purpose, 
and gives itself into His hands for that end, in 
the expectation of sorrow and death; as a man 
afflicted with some dreadful disease might put 
himself into the hands of a surgeon of whose skill 
he is assured, and who has said to him, "I will 
answer for your cure even now, if you will give 
yourself up unreservedly to my treatment. " 



The preciousness of the Mediator ship. 

The Mediatorship of Christ is a precious doc- 
trine. The Kingdom is in His hands, and we 
are privileged to receive nothing but as it passes 
through His hand, and bears His stamp. He is 
Himself the Father's unspeakable gift to us ; and 
now every thing that comes to us comes to us 
through Him; and in its passage through His 
hands it becomes impregnated and saturated with 



CONSOLATIO. 191 

that very love which first gave Him to us, and 
constituted Him a Mediator, and nailed Him to 
the cross ; and with all the holiness too. So let 
us call nothing common or unclean; all is holy, 
for all comes stamped with the print of the nail, 
which is our King's stamp. And thus there is in 
every thing a sorrow, and also a joy which the 
world understandeth not: a sorrow for sin, and a 
joy that God's holy love is in action to destroy 
sin, and that His cause must triumph, and He 
will be glorified. 

The knowledge of the Mediatorial reign of our 
Lord seems to me to be, in a very sweet and 
special manner, the "secret of the Lord, which is 
with them that fear him." They will feel it to 
be a light thing that a world of sin should be a 
world of sorrow, and that a race which had gone 
away from God into the far country of unbelief 
should find it an evil and a bitter thing to do so; 
they will sympathize with God even whilst their 
own souls are torn by the bitter wages of sin, and 
they will look for a coming glory. 






Go<Ps will accomplished in us. 

Let us receive into our hearts this blessed truth, 
that God has and can have no other object in His 
dealings towards us, but simply and solely that of 



192 CONSOLATIO. 

making us holy and happy for ever. He who 
knows this truly, can have no wish to elude any 
of God's commandments, or corrections, or judg- 
ments, because he feels that by this he should 
only elude his own blessedness. He can have no 
other wish than that all God's will should be 
accomplished on him and in him. 



He who sends the storm, steers the vessel. 



Sorrow, the consequence of sin, and an instrument for 
purif cation. 

The sharp sting of present pain, which is God's 
testimony, through conscience, against sin, is but 
an intimation of the universal law of His govern- 
ment ; and all the secret hopes by which we strive 
to silence this warning, and whisper to ourselves 
that in our case sin will not bring misery, are met 
here. We see that, if we will sin, we must suffer : 
that our sins do not, as we are ready to believe, 
of themselves leave us as soon as we have com- 
mitted them, but that they stay with us, and 
become part of us. We have been weaving the 
web of our life, and it abides still coloured by the 
threads that we have woven into it ; and, as far 
as we can see, sorrow is even needful, as the 



CONSOLATIO. 193 

means of tearing out the lines of past permitted 
evil. Not that we are to find our atonement in 
our sorrows ; God forbid ! for if it were so, our 
case were utterly beyond the reach of remedy, 
since all our woe could not atone for any one 
transgression ; but because, through God's bless- 
ing on it, suffering is made a means of carrying 
on His cure within us; not indeed by any virtue 
of its own, for sorrow and pain have no power 
to renew the heart of man; of themselves they do 
but irritate and sour his spirit. He needs a deep- 
er and a more effectual cure ; and it is only when 
sorrow brings us to Him who can work this with- 
in us, that it is a blessing. Then, indeed, under 
the blessed leading of His grace, it turns into the 
choicest mercy ; for to the Christian man there is 
this mystery in it, it does bring us to Him who is 
the true and only Purifier, by driving us from the 
world and from ourselves to Him ; by bending 
our separate wills to His will; by leading us to 
wait on Him, to seek His purifying Spirit, to 
cling to the cross of His Son, with all its bitter 
pains; by setting before us long past sins, even 
as certain changes in the atmosphere bring out 
again the faded spots of worn-out stains. So that 
this connection between suffering and transgres- 
sion rests not on an arbitrary decree, which may 
be dispensed with in our case, but on the neces- 
sity of God's holy nature, on the one hand, and 

13 



194 CONSOLATIO. 

on the very needs of the nature He has given us, 
on the other. There can, in this world, be no 
divorce between these true yoke-fellows, sin and 
suffering. The man who allows himself in any 
iniquity is taking burning coals into his bosom; 
and how deeply they may wound him God only 
knows. Jacob's life was scarred by them, till 
they brought down his grey hairs, after many 
sorrows, to the grave. 

Here, then, is a lesson of solemn warning ; and 
close beside it, is that of joyful submission amidst 
the afflictions of life. 

For what a character does this truth stamp 
upon them ! They are indeed, we know, the 
consequence of sin: perhaps we may even be 
able to trace them up to some sin of our own in 
years long past, and in this there must be bitter- 
ness. But, then, what joy is there in this thought 
(which is the privilege of every believer in Jesus), 
they are not the strokes of anger; they are the 
blessed remedies of the most kind and skilful of 
Physicians ; they have ever formed the thorny 
hedge which at some period of jheir lives has 
shut in the path along which God's chosen ones 
have been led on to glory; they are proofs that 
we are under training; they show that we have 
a part in the Covenant; they give us good reason 
to hope that the blessed Spirit has not left us; 
nay, that He is striving with us, and perfecting 



COXSOLATIO. ]95 

for us His blessed work ! With what words, 
therefore, of love does He uphold us in our sharp- 
est sufferings : " Whom the Lord loveth he 
chasteneth : " " God dealeth with you as with 
sons:" " Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers 
of Christ's sufferings ! " And hear how His 
children have replied, " Before I was afflicted I 
went wrong ; but now have I kept thy word." 

And here is the true secret of peace in this 
world of trouble — to yield ourselves always 
meekly, as the redeemed of Christ, to the hand of 
God, as of a loving Father; to know that this is 
the especial character of our lives, that we are not 
under a grinding rule of blind necessity, nor 
under a harsh rod of vindictive infliction, but in a 
process of restoration ; that joy and sorrow are 
mingled for us, as He sees best for us; that our 
joys are but His love, our sorrows but the deeper 
tones of that same love ; that we are safe whilst 
He bids the sun still to shine around us, for that 
we are His ; and that He will keep us in the 
dangerous sunshine. Nor do the clouds on the 
horizon trouble us, for they cannot dim that sun- 
shine, so long as He sees that it is best for us to 
walk with Him in its glad brightness. It may be 
He will accept our quiet waiting on Him, and so 
teach us through it, that we shall hardly need the 
rougher discipline of sharp affliction. Or if our 
sun threaten to go down in darkness, — if the 



196 CONSOLATIO. 

clouds gather over it in gloom, still we are with 
Him ; and to be with Him is, for every child of 
His, the most really to be at peace. In the storm. 
He whom we love more than life comes often- 
times the closest to us: and by the blessed power 
of that divine Presence, the world, when it is the 
barest to the eye of sense, abounds the most rich- 
ly in the truest consolation ; and the sharp edge 
of earthly anguish grows into the severe reality 
of heavenly joy. 



What is misfortune? Whatever separates us 
from God. What a blessing? Every means of 
approximation to Him. 



Sorrow, an angel to be entertained. 

When sorrow and the cross come upon thee, 
seek not with the world to distract it; drive it 
not away with fresh sources of sorrow, but bid it 
welcome: cherish it as a heavenly visitant, as a 
messenger sent from God with healing^ to thy 
soul; and thou shalt find that thou "entertainest 
angels unawares." Thou shalt find the bow in 
the cloud, His light arising out of darkness, His 
form upon the troubled waters : and if He hush 



CONSOLATIO. 197 

them not, He shall say to thy soul, "Fear not, 
for I am with thee." He shall make it gladlier 
to thee to lie down in trouble and anguish, while 
He is with thee, than ever any of the joys of this 
world were while He was less present with thee, 
or wherein thou forgattest Him. 

The blessed lot is not to live joyously in the 
world undisturbed by sorrow or suffering, having 
our good things in this life, left to our own ways; 
it is to lie low, (well is it for us if it be of our 
own accord, yet any how to lie low,) under His 
cross : though for a time it lay heavy upon us, it 
is not so heavy as sin : though it wound us, they 
are " the wounds of a Friend; " though its nails 
pierce us, they are but to let forth the disease 
which would consume us ; though it bow us to 
the earth, it places us not so deep as we deserve 
to be; it casts us down only, that when we have 
learnt to lie there in silence and humiliation, He 
may raise us np. 



Something must be left as a test of the loyalty 
of the heart : in Paradise, the tree ; in Israel, a 
Canaanite ; in us, temptation. 



198 CONSOLATIO. 



Trust lightens load. 

What an oppressive burden is taken off a 
Christian's shoulders by his privilege of leaving 
all consequences, while in the path of duty, to 
God! He has done with, "How shall /bear 
this trouble V* " How shall / remove this diffi- 
culty ? ?? " How shall / get through this deep 
water?" — but leaves himself in the hands of 
God. 



Delay in succour, the means of refinement. 

Divine relief comes not always when it is most 
desired, but when it is most fit; and when that 
is, He that hath at once all present, past, and 
future things in His possession, is fittest to de- 
termine. 

*fr *fr "fF Tv 'f? 

St. Paul prayed thrice for the removal of that 
rude thorn to the flesh (whatever that may mean); 
nay, of the Blessed Virgin Mother Herself, her 
Divine Son would not be found till the third day, 
though she sought Him sorrowing: and Lazarus, 
to whom, even during his sickness, He vouchsafed 
(a title to which all Caesar's were but trifles) the 
style of friend, was permitted, not only to lie 



CONSOLATIO. 199 

a-dying, but to die, his rescue being deferred till 
it was thought impossible, and was so indeed to 
any less power than Omnipotence; which mani- 
fests that, as no degree of distress is unrelievable 
by His power, so no extremity of it is inconsist- 
ent with His compassion, no, not with His friend- 
ship. He whose Spirit inspired the prophets, is 
in the last of them represented under the notion 
of a refiner; and it is not the custom of refiners to 
snatch the beloved metal out of the fire as soon 
as it feels the violence of that purifying element, 
nay, nor as soon as it is melted by it ; but they 
let it long endure the brunt of the active flames, 
actuated by exciting blasts, till it have stood its 
due time in the fire, and then obtained its full 
purity and splendour. 1 



1 The great accuracy of the simile of the refiner (Mai. iv. 3, 
" He shall sit as a refiner," ) has been very beautifully shown by 
a reference to the known practice of persons engaged in that trade. 
The refiner places himself before the cauldron containing the 
metal, and separates the dross from the pure gold or silver ; he con- 
tinues the operation until he can see his own image clearly reflected 
in the burning ore. It is thus that God puts those whom He would 
refine into the crucible of affliction : their tt trial is much more 
precious than that of gold or silver." He sits like a refiner before 
them, and He does not cease to fan the flame and remove the dross, 
until He sees His own image reflected in His tried and afflicted 
servant. 



200 COXSOLATIO. 

The Jubilate of Nature. 

To the unenlightened man the world and his 
own kind may appear like a reed shaken by the 
wind ; by the sensual man every thing may be 
regarded as the means and fuel of luxury ; but to 
the Christian, whose eye has been purged, the 
sphere of whose vision has been enlarged by faith, 
the world is as a prophet that tells him of God ; 
and he hears all nature, animate and inanimate, 
joining in the choral hymn of adoration and 
thanksgiving to its Creator. Hallelujah is the 
sound of the waves ; and the mountains reply, 
Hallelujah ! Hallelujahs float along in the mur- 
muring of the streams, in the whisperings of the 
grove and forest; yea, even in the silent courses 
of the stars, his spirit hears the mystic Halle- 
lujahs. 1 

1 This extract was the last made by the suffering hand, which 
traced these pages, and is here given, as well because it was her 
last, as because in its beautiful chorus, it forms a fitting close to her 
work. " Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord from henceforth : 
Yea, saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors, and their 
works do follow them. 55 



THE 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 1 



The Communion or " fellowship " 2 of the 
children of God. both dead and living, with each 
other, and with their Father, and his blessed Son, 
formed topic of the great Intercessional prayer of 
the Redeemer : 3 and was beautifully exemplified 
in the practice of the primitive Church. Where- 
ever the enemy of the Cross of Christ turned his 
eyes, he beheld men of every kindred, " Par- 
thians, Medes, and dwellers at Mesopotamia," as 

1 The following article, upon a subject of common interest is 
added to the work, as kindred to its purposes ; and as forming 
suitable topic for Christian thought, while suffering under the dis- 
cipline of pain or sorrow from the hand of our Heavenly Father. 
The writer has aimed, in its preparation, not so much to say some- 
thing new, as to arrange for practical benefit, that which has already 
been said. And as he has already drawn largely from the article 
on this subject, prepared by the English editor, he will hold himself 
responsible chiefly for the manner of its execution. 

2 1 Cor. i. 9. Acts, ii. 42. 1 John, i. 3, 6, 7. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 

3 " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall 
believe on me, through their word : that they all may be One ; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be One 
in us." John, xvii. 20, 21. 



OQ2 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

well as Jews, Greeks, and Romans banded to- 
gether in a common society, having " one Lord, 
one Faith, one Baptism:" they were " members 
one of another;" they of Antioch sending relief 
to their brethren in Judea ; Corinthians to Mace- 
donians; Phillippi to Thessaly. The waters, first 
smitten at the Holy City, spread and circled in 
undulations of love over the whole earth. And 
wherever subsisted members of the great company 
of the Baptized, they were saluted as "fellow- 
heirs of the same grace ; " sharers of the same 
hope; "very members incorporate in that mysti- 
cal body, which is the blessed company of all 
faithful people." l 

Nor was this fellowship confined to the living 
only. There was a communion with the de- 
parted, as still members of the same body, having 
borne the Cross first with the Church militant, to 

1 This unity of Communion, and the strong terms in which the 
ancient disciples spake of the sin of schism, furnish topic of serious 
thought in these days. St. Paul's question : " Is Christ divided? " 
remains still to be pondered: and it is difficult to see how Chris- 
tians can be made " perfect hi one," and " one body in Christ," and 
11 members one of another," until there is a return to the fellowship 
and intercommunion of the days, when " though every city has its 
own Church, it is one in all." 

This remarkable unity and fraternity has given rise to the opinion 
of a filiation between the early Christian Church, and those secret 
Associations for benevolent and other purposes, which, under Mason- 
ic and other names, have subsisted from a remote age ; and the 
ancient " Tesserae hospitales," and the mysteries attending the 
Eucharistic feast 3 have been adduced as proofs. 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. OQ3 

wear the Crown afterward, with the Church 
triumphant. " The general assembly of the 
Church of the First-born" embraced the "spirits 
of just men made perfect; " and it was not with- 
out reason that the Dead in Christ, like the 
¥ souls under the Altar" whom St. John saw 1 
were believed to subsist in full consciousness, 
memory and love of the Church on earth, and 
were commemorated in Christian assemblies, as 
partakers of the same blessedness. 2 

This communion is something more than a 
mere external bond, however essential to its vital- 
ity " the outward and visible sign" may be con- 
sidered. It is a real One-ness, which no rupture 
of the visible bond can destroy. It is a commu- 
nion, which, because it is based upon Christ, can 
never die. It is felt by the dead, who have gone 
beyond the pale of an external body, as well as 
by the living, whose hearts swell and throb in the 
sympathies of a common brotherhood. It is the 
sharing of a common life, one with another, all 
with Christ; and. because it is a life, whose pul- 
sations are derived from Christ, the communica- 
tion must be interior and secret ; it must be a 
partaking of the same circulation of feeling, the 
same holiness, the same love ; just as the distant 
vine-leaf on the trellis partakes, by the instrumen- 

1 Rev. vi. 10. 

2 Bingham's Antiq. Christian Ch. book 23, c. 3, s. 12, 13. 



204 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

talities of a visible connection of the life from the 
interior and unseen root. 1 Christ is, indeed, " Head 
over all things to the Church, which is His body: 2 
but the vitality of the membership in that body 
lies in the secret communion with Him, and from 
Him ; and the fellowship of one branch with an- 
other, and one member with another is dependent 
on the fact, that both can trace their life to the 
same source and fountain-head, finding that l t all 
its fresh springs are in Him." 3 And therefore, 
when a Christian leaves the communion of the 
Church below, he does not leave Christ, for the 
communion is interior and spiritual. The Body 
of which Christ is Head, is a mystical body, of 
which the dead, no less than the living, are "mem- 
bers incorporate." The company of the Saved is 
that " great multitude," made white in the blood 
of the Lamb;" 4 and the same life, which beats 
in the Christian soul, offering itself at the altar of 
faith, is that which quickens the Dead in Christ, 
who "never die," 5 and constitutes their perfect 
communion with Christ and with us. 

Now. it is when the outer life has departed, and 
when those, with whom we took sweet counsel, 
leave the circle of a visible communion of saints, 
and go down to the dust, that this inner life and 
communion becomes most precious. The heart 

1 " I am the Vine ; ye are the Branches." John xv. 5. 

2 Eph. i. 22. 3 Ps. lxxxvii. 7. 4 Rev. vii. 14. 5 John, xi. 26. 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 205 

craves its wonted companionship. Death seems 
to have cast a broad shadow between us and 
them. They have departed from us, and we feel 
the loneliness. And in its desolation, the mind 
turns to the revealed Word of God, and the dis- 
closures and traditions of the Christian faith, to 
learn how Christ is their Resurrection and life ; 
and xchere is that sympathy, and communion, and 
love, which the dead still maintain towards the 
living ; and wherein our buried ones are u gone, 
but not lost." It is natural that we should seek 
to know, where they are; what their life; and 
how they are employed. We ask, do they live 
near us? are they yet with us? can they know 
our sorrows for them ? do they love us, still? and 
God permits us to suffer from such unsatisfied 
longings and inquiries, proposing to our faith only 
this — that they live in Christ, and that in Him, 
we should seek them, and shall know them. But 
we do not sorrow as those without hope. 

Something is known of their destiny. And it 
is written in the records of that Gospel, which 
reveals the life of the soul, that when Christ shall 
come again, He will bring back those, who sleep 
in Him. 1 They are not dead. They sleep. And 
they sleep in Him: they are in His keeping; 
hidden within the shady hollow of His mighty 
heart; for if He will bring them then^ they must 

1 1 Thess. iv. 



206 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

be under His keeping now. St. Paul has in posi- 
tive terms assured us of this, when he says, that 
11 to be absent from the body is to be present with 
the Lord;" and no less so when he declares by 
implication, that u to depart" and " to be with 
Christ" is one and the same thing. 

It is upon such texts as these, that we ground 
our strong assurance of the conscious happiness 
and blessedness of the Dead in Christ. They are 
with him : and they are therefore blest, and our 
faith that they are conscious of this blessedness 
is world-wide expressed in those funeral prayers 
of the Anglican communion, which are known 
and read wherever the language of our Father- 
land prevails. li Almighty God, with whom do 
live the spirits of them that depart hence in the 
Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, 
after they are delivered from the burden of the 
flesh, are in joy and felicity; we give Thee hearty 
thanks, for that it hath pleased Thee to deliver 
this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful 
world; beseeching Thee, that it may please Thee, 
of thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish 
the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy king- 
dom ; that we, with all those that are departed in 
the true faith of thy holy name, may have our 
perfect consummation and bliss, both in body 
and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 207 

The coffin is lowered : dust is committed to 
dust: we have lost sight of the object of our 
heart's tenderest affections: the cold grave seems 
to possess that which was once ours, and which 
we long to recover, and to mock any words of 
resurrection and hope, which can be said over 
the dead. But our faith tells us it is not so : 
Christ is still our life and theirs : our brother, or 
our sister; our mother, or our child, is not there. 
The dews of heaven shall descend, the showers 
shall fall, and the storms shall sweep over their 
coffined forms, but they themselves are far away; 
they are at home; they are in the presence of 
Christ; in the keeping of God : they rest, happy, 
happy spirits! in His presence, "in joy and 
felicity." No room, therefore, for our pity: let 
us neither pity, nor — what we may be more 
tempted to do — too keenly envy them; let us 
bless God who has delivered them from the 
miseries of this sinful world ; and whilst we ear- 
nestly strive to follow and patiently wait to meet 
them, let us constantly pray for " that perfect 
consummation in bliss, both of body and soul," 
for them as well as for ourselves, which our 
Master has prepared in the many mansions of our 
Father's house. 1 

There is a peculiar expression of the Apostle 

i John, xiv. 2. 



20S COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

St. Paul in relation to this inner and immortal 
life, which deserves note. He says li Ye are 
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." l 
The death here spoken of is the death to sin : he 
says therefore, to true Christians, that they are 
already dead and buried; nay more, that their 
life is even now in the company aud keeping of 
Christ. But if this be the case, death natural can 
make no alteration in this respect. The life of a 
saint departed can only be with Christ : this is its 
euthanasia. But it was with Him before: it is 
not therefore changed in locality : it remains 
where it was, in blessedness and in bliss. 

If, then, I am in Christ, my life is with Him : 
the lives of those whom I have lost are with Him: 
and so shall ever be with the Lord. The body, 
indeed, is laid down; but the life is where it was 
before, only exalted through the struggle well and 
safely passed, and now perfectly purified. They 
live, no matter how or where, with Christ, in the 
place of the departed. My imaginings, sanctified 
by faith and prayer, may enable me to see some- 
thing of them and their employments, but nothing 
distinctly. I see but darkly. Yet if I, by faith, 
by prayer, by holy obedience, draw nearer to 
Him now, surely in thus doing I draw nearer to 
them. He is their centre ; He is mine also ; the 

1 Col. iii. 3. 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 099 

shorter the radius of my distance from Him, the 
shorter the diameter of my separation from them. 
H Thus draw we nearer day by day each to the 
other, all to God." 1 



1 " The saints of God, living in the Church of Christ, are in com- 
munion with all the saints departed out of this life and admitted to 
the presence of God. Jerusalem is sometimes taken for the Church 
on earth, sometimes for that part of the Church which is in heaven, 
to show that as both are represented by one, so both are but one city 
of God. Wherefore thus doth the Apostle speak to such as are 
called to the Christian faith : ' Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and 
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and an 
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church 
of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge 
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the 
mediator of the new covenant.' (Heb. xii. 22 — 24.) Indeed, the 
communion of saints in the Church of Christ with those which are 
departed, is demonstrated by their communion with the saints alive. 
For if I have communion with a saint of God, as such, while he 
liveth here, I must still have communion with him when he is de- 
parted hence; because the foundation of that communion cannot be 
removed by death. The mystical union between Christ and His 
Church, the spiritual conjunction of the members to the Head, is 
the true foundation of that communion which one member had with 
another, all the members living and increasing by the same influence 
which they receive from Him. But death, which is nothing else 
but the separation of the soul from the body, maketh no separation 
in the mystical union, no breach of the spiritual conjunction ; and 
consequently there must continue the same communion, because 
there remaineth the same foundation. Indeed, the saint departed, 
before his death, had some communion with the hypocrite, — as 
hearing the word, professing the faith, receiving the sacraments 
together; which being in things only external, as they were com- 
mon to them both, and all such external actions ceasing in the 
person dead, the hypocrite remaining, loseth all communion with 

11 



210 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

But then the heart sighs involuntarily, Yes, but 
there was a sensible communication then ; the 
voice, the hand, the eye, — there is no such com- 
munication now. Most true there is not, and yet 
there is that which is like it. My Saviour, the 
Son of Man, the new Head of humanity, has 
declared His presence by sensible tokens. 

The agreement of the two on earth ; l the as- 
sembly of the two or three in His name ; 2 and 
especially the receiving by a lively faith of His 
body and blood in the Lord's Supper : 3 these 
mark His mystical presence. 

But if I thus truly meet Him — if I thus really 
feed on Him, in whose presence my departed 
friends live, and if / have His mystical presence, 
and they His actual presence, have I not a sensi- 
ble token of their nearness to me? Do I not in 
that blessed ordinance enjoy in a peculiar manner 
the communion of saints? For the very reason 
why it is called the sacrament of the Holy Com- 
munion is, that it is the most marked symbol, as 

the saint departing; and the saints surviving, cease to have further 
fellowship with the hypocrite dying. But the true and unfeigned 
holiness of man, wrought by the powerful influence of the Spirit 
of God, not only remaineth, but also is improved after death ; as the 
correspondence of the internal holiness was the communion be- 
tween their persons in their life, they cannot be said to be divided 
by death, which had no power over that sanctity by which they 
were first conjoined." — Bishop Pearson on the Creed. 
1 Matth. xviii. 19. 2 Matth. xviii. 20. 3 Matth. xxvi. 26, 23. 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 211 

well as the most efficacious and affecting means 
of communion with them. It is in that blessed 
ordinance that Jesus Christ is most evidently set 
forth as crucified amongst us ; it shows forth His 
death until He come; it is in that sacrament that 
all the rays of Divine love and tenderness seem to 
meet as in the focus of a burning-glass. If we 
have (and blessed be His name we both have and 
enjoy!) communion with Him by faith, and in 
prayer, and in praise, and in the Word, we speci- 
ally, as well as most significantly, enjoy commu- 
nion in that sacrament, and do verily and indeed 
partake His body broken and His blood poured 
out ; we are very members incorporate in His 
mystical body ; we are one with Him, and He 
with us ; and that, by a very special, lively, and 
faithful intercommunion of us the members with 
Him the Head. 

We stand before the face of the Lord, though 
we do not see each other. And just as two 
friends, far distant from each other, can gaze, at 
the same moment, upon the same planet, upon 
the same star, and the beams of light from both 
shall meet in the same focus : so Christ looks, at 
once, upon me and the loved one I have lost ; and 
at the same moment, our forms and figures are in 
the mirror of His beautiful countenance, as much 
as we were ever together on the earth; perhaps 
far more so: for here, flesh and blood, sin and 



212 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

mortality darken, defile, deface every thing; they 
are the great separation walls between the truest 
and the tenderest hearts: but there, all barriers 
are removed : all is true, and clear, and open. 

But, do those whom we love, and who have 
gone before us into the world of spiritual realities, 
actually know what we are doing ? The Scriptures 
intimate, that in part they do: Their brethren 
and their father's house, as they have still place 
in their affections, have, also, a place in their 
knowledge. They know that still they have 
brethren, if they know not how much need there 
is to testify unto them; 1 and as they love them, 
we cannot suppose they would omit any means, 
in their power, to gain knowledge of them and to 
benefit them. 2 But the nature, and the amount, 
and the power of that knowledge are hidden from 
us. Now, we see but darkly ; and know only in 
part. And the obscurity of our knowledge will, 
no doubt, suggest to any mind, exercised upon 
this subject, modes and ways, in which all its 
difficulties shall be solved. At times, there seems 
to be such a nearness of the departed to the sur- 
vivor, as that he can almost hear the rustling of 
the plume, in the deep silence, which surrounds 



1 Luke, xvi. 23. 

2 See Bp. Heber's letter to Miss Stowe. Heb. Trav. vol. 2. 
(Lond. Edit.) p. 350. 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 213 

him. At times, and specially in that near contact 
of the finite with the Infinite, the meeting of the 
two worlds, the line of boundary between the 
revolted province of Earth, and the kingdom of 
our Father, which is touched and/eft at the Altar 
of the Holy Communion, there seems a communi- 
cation opened between us and them, and Christ 
bridges over the space, and " living and dead but 
one communion make." But, still, all these feel- 
ings have no solid Scripture to rest upon, except 
the union of the soul with Christ, and the solem- 
nities of Christian worship, because of the pres- 
ence of Christ, 1 and because of the angels. 2 And 
though our hopes and theories are pleasant and 
plausible, yet from the imperfect revelations upon 
the subject, we must rest satified with the know- 
ledge, that memory and consciousness and love 
are still exercised by the departed, and that per- 
haps they are, indeed, very near to us. 

But, if they know what we are doing and can 
take knowledge of our souls, only as spirit can 
know spirit, even as the Infinite Spirit is capable 
of communion with our minds, do they know all 
that befalls us, the evil that happens to us, our 
woes, our sorrows, or our weakness? Would not 
such a knowledge be a " troubling " of those, who 
have escaped from trouble? But, here is a 

1 Matth. xviii. 19.20. 2 1 Cor. xi. 10. 



214 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

serious difficulty. If they do know all, then 
must their views of things be so elevated, and 
their knowledge of the Divine purposes and plans 
so intimate, and their minds so conformed to the 
Divine will as to say, in all, and through all, 
" Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy 
sight : " or else, they must be pained, in that 
place of the departed, where pain should have 
end; and their sympathies be painfully aroused 
by our strugglings. I see no way to solve the 
difficulty, but in the faith that their communion 
with us, is in and through the Lord Jesus Himself; 
and of course that it is by Him, adapted to their 
circumstances and ours. 

That they know something, seems to be evident. 
St. Paul, writing to the Hebrews, (Heb. xii.) 
exhorts them to activity by the thought of the 
great cloud of witnesses, with which they are 
surrounded. The figure is borrowed from the 
games and combats of the Roman amphitheatre : 
where, it should be noted, that a special seat was 
assigned to those, who had been crowned in 
former contests. How the thought of their pre- 
sence would stimulate a combatant ! How he 
would feel the discriminating eye with which 
they would regard him ! how they would under- 
stand the merits of his practice ; appreciate his 
skill; or mourn over his failure. It is true that 
" witness" may mean only witness in the sense 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 0^5 

of martyr; but this meaning would neither satisfy 
the figure nor the reasoning. Taking it in the 
other, which we may conclude to be the true 
sense, it satisfies both; and then see how it 
applies to us as Christian gladiators. We believe 
those that have gone before us, the conquering, 
triumphant dead, to be spectators of our contest. 
Here is the limit, — they are witnesses to the way 
in which we are carrying on the great battle, but 
not of any tiling else. But are they witnesses of 
all our falls, our wounds, our blows, or buffets? 
If sometimes we are smitten down by the great 
enemy ; if sometimes our own evil hearts lead us 
astray ; if we fall aside, do they see us then? If 
at their departure from us we are weighed down 
with overmuch sorrow, do they see that? The 
question is difficult, and I would thus venture to 
answer it. We may believe that Christ communi- 
cates to them all that it would do usservice, or give 
them happiness to knovi. 

If, therefore, we are growing in faith, deepening 
our repentance, waxing more valiant in fight, 
turning to flight, as we have never done before, 
the armies of the lusts that are aliens to our peace; 
then we may really believe that all these blessed 
symptoms of our spiritual state are communicated 
to them: and it is a right rejoicing thing to think 
how their souls may bathe in new delight as they 
receive the blessed intelligence. 



216 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

But can this be all that they know? We can 
scarcely believe so, and for this reason : a sym- 
pathy, only in success, is a very imperfect sym- 
pathy ; it is not the sympathy of the Son of Man : 
but if it be not His sympathy, and if they are one 
with Him, we can scarcely conceive it to be 
theirs. Real communion does evidently imply 
something more than this. 

But then the objection arises, that more than 
this might interrupt their rest. Now, in answer, 
it may be observed, that it is perhaps a low con- 
ception of their state previous to the great consum- 
mation to imagine of it that it can only tolerate 
happiness. When they were upon earth, they 
deeply felt our difficulties. It was one of their 
greatest privileges, and they felt it to be so, to 
energize in prayer for those they loved, when 
those beloved ones were in sadness or in difficulty. 
May we not imagine that the same feelings of this 
kind of pleasurable, though not passionate energy, 
may still be theirs J I They are not weighed 



I " They which first found this part of the article in the Creed, 
and delivered their exposition to us, have made no greater enlarge- 
ment of this communion, as to the saints of heaven, than the society 
of hope, esteem, and imitation, on our side, of desires and supplica- 
tions on their side, 

" What is now taught by the Church of Rome is, as an unwar- 
rantable, so a novitious interpretation."— Bp. Pearson on the Creed. 

II Why do we not run with eager haste to see our country? A 
great multitude of beloved ones, parents, brethren, children, await 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 0^7 

down now by the body of death ; they can pray 
as " angels that excel in strength/' flying on 
wings that never tire. And to pray thus, to 
wrestle like Him who was a " Prince with God" 
in prayer, may be a part of the privileges of 
their triumphant condition. Passive rest is not 
that which we can imagine to be the happiness 
of a soul even in the separate state. As the sky- 
birds whirl and soar with a kind of joyous energy 

our arrival : the thick and thronging crowd regret our absence — 
secure of their own safety, they are solicitous for our salvation." — 
St. Augustine, Sermon 181, quoted by Bp. Pearson. 

" I believe, O most holy Jesus, that thy saints here below have 
communion with the saints above ; they praying for us in heaven, 
we here on earth celebrating their memorials, rejoicing at their bliss, 
giving Thee thanks for their labours of love, and imitating their 
examples ; for which all love and glory be to Thee." — Bishop Ken, 
Practice of Divine Love. 

" Nor have we communion only with the saints on earth, but are 
of one city, and one family, with such as are already got safe to 
heaven. Doubtless, they exercise that communion towards us, by 
loving and praying for their brethren, whom they have left behind 
them. And we are to exercise it towards them, not by addressing 
petitions to them, which we are neither authorized to offer, nor have 
any ground to think they can hear ; but by rejoicing in their happi- 
ness, thanking God for the grace which He hath bestowed on them, 
and the examples which they have left us, holding their memories in 
honour, imitating their virtues, and beseeching the Disposer of all 
things, that, having followed them in holiness here, we may meet 
them in happiness hereafter ; and become, in the fullest sense, 
fellow -citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; having, 
with all those that are departed in the true faith of His holy Name, 
our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His 
eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen." — From Archbishop Seeker's Lectures on the Catechism. 



218 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

when the winds are high, battling almost with 
the clouds ; so may we imagine those blessed 
heavenly ones that have gone from us, to wrestle 
in prayer, and meet and contend with the sorrow- 
clouds that darken and distress us, whom they so 
deeply love. There is nothing derogatory to the 
high-priestly intercession of Christ in this, although 
it is perfectly evident that it might be easily car- 
ried too far. This, however, is our safety, that 
all communion of the saints, whether on earth or 
in heaven, is through the medium of Christ. It 
is not, as the Romanists say, that they (the saints 
and the blessed Virgin) are between Christ and 
our souls ; but that Christ, the perfection of mercy, 
may very probably allow them in heaven the 
great privilege of intercession which He gave 
them on earth ; He Himself being the centre of 
all such communion. 

For, consider again : — When our Lord gra- 
ciously commands us, by His Apostle, to pray 
one for the other, this would seem, in the first 
instance, to conflict with the all-sufficiency of His 
prevailing mediation. Why does it not 1 Simply 
because no prayer made for our brother or our 
sister here upon earth can be availing, unless it be 
made through Him. 

But why is this kind of intercession enjoined? 
Most evidently to bind up all the members of 
Christ's body in the communion of a most holy 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 219 

and perfect sympathy. That this sympathy does 
exist in the hosoms of those that are gone, is 
evident from various parts of Scripture. 

When Moses and Elias appeared on the trans- 
figuration mount, the theme that filled their souls, 
was the sufferings and the kingdom of Christ. 
That which fills now the souls of the saints 
departed must be the same ; and their interest in 
the saints on earth must be all based on their 
interest in that same kingdom of Christ, and be 
connected with the share which they (that is, we) 
are taking or should take in this great consum- 
mation. 

But then there is more than this general interest ; 
there is a feeling and a compassion connected with 
our sufferings, our dangers, and our trials. The 
cry of the souls under the altar 1 shows us this: 
it was a cry of weariness at the long-continued 
sufferings of the saints in general. 

But if there is this general interest, may we not 
conclude that there is a special anxiety about the 
state of those they love? The parable of Dives 
and Lazarus shows us this incidentally. We can- 
not imagine our Lord to have put a case which 
had not a foundation of truth. We cannot 
imagine Him to have described Dives as caring 
for his brethren, if those that sleep have no care 
at all for those that are alive and remain, 

1 Rev. vi. 9. 



220 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

There is something to a sorrowing heart very- 
soothing in these thoughts. We look to Jesus as 
our common centre. As friends at a distance 
hold communion by looking each night at some 
bright meridian star, so do we look at the face of 
Jesus, and know that our departed friend is gazing 
too. As friends read the same passage of Holy 
Writ at a certain hour, and believe that the com- 
mon Spirit through this means doth beget a per- 
fect communion ; nay, as the whole Church, in 
her daily or weekly services, holds blessed sym- 
pathetic communion by the means of this common 
reading of God's Word, and by united prayer, so 
do we, looking up in like manner to Jesus, com- 
municate our thoughts, our feelings, our regrets, 
or our gratitude, in respect of those our friends 
that are with Him. Can we believe that He 
makes no communication of what we are doing 
to them ? 

If we have ever neglected or injured them, and 
desire that they should know that we are lying 
on our bosoms, and smiting upon them in deep 
soul-penitence, would not such penitence give 
them a serious joy? Or, if we look back at their 
graces and their virtues, and call them daily to 
mind, and thank God that we have seen and 
known, and loved and honoured them; is it un- 
scriptural to believe, that He, our common Friend, 
may communicate this to them as they now lie 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 021 

in His bosom? Can we not imagine that they 
would strike their lyres to new tunes of praise, 
and sing fresh hallelujahs to Him who had 
enabled them to glorify Him by obedience when 
they were here, and to leave the bright legacy of 
their examples behind them? Or, if we are sigh- 
ing or sad, or in difficulty, and pine after the love 
of those that were once our friends and our coun- 
sellors ; is it contrary to Scriptural analogy that 
He should communicate these sorrows of ours to 
them, and give them new opportunities of inter- 
ceding for us? If the souls under the altar cry 
out in compassion and sympathy for their suffer- 
ing brethren, may we not believe that they who 
are also there, — our friend, our brother, our 
parent, or our child, implores for us? Or if we 
arrive in our daily reading at some passage of 
Holy Writ, which we remember to have given 
them instruction or comfort, when they were with 
us; and if such passage come to us with a fresh 
and sensible power, when we connect it with 
their memories ; may we not well imagine, yea 
believe, that He, in whose presence they dwell, 
communicates the fact and the feeling, and so 
brings a new wave of satisfaction over their 
beatified spirits ? 

How soothing are these thoughts ! We are 
bereaved, it may be ; we walk on earth in silence 
and in solitude ; we live a lonely life : so it seems 



222 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

to others, so too often it will seem to us. But 
then, think of the communion of saints. We are 
all of us together in the great circle of which He 
our Head is the centre; yea, all of us are together, 
both living and dead. When, therefore, I seem 
alone in my chamber, or alone on the hills, or 
alone on the sea-shore, or alone in the crowd, I 
am not really alone; I have companionship, both 
earthly and heavenly; I am with Christ, whom 
I know as a brother, for I am acquainted with 
Him as the son of Joseph, the poor carpenter; 
and I remember Him as the lonely man who 
walked by the Lake of Tiberias, and used to cross 
over Kedron, and to wander about Mount Olivet. 
I remember Him, therefore, as I would remember 
and think of a dead friend, by the places He fre- 
quented, the walks He used to take, and the 
pursuits He followed. But my earthly friend 
whom I have lost is with that lowly lofty Man ; 
they talk together, as He once talked with John, 
or Peter, or James, or Philip, or Levi. And do 
they not talk of me ? And if I speak to Him, 
exalted as He now is in power and omnipresent 
Majesty, will He not communicate all that I say 
of right and true, to my friend that now lies in 
His bosom, and is with Him as a chosen dis- 
ciple ? 

The reason that these thoughts may seem 
strange to some is twofold. The first is, the 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 223 

Romish abuse of the doctrine of communion of 
saints; the other is, the forgetfulness of men that 
the body, like the Head, is but One. 

If we required a visible Head, as the Romanists 
do, this twofold Headship, that on earth and that 
in heaven would almost preclude, or at least 
would sensibly interfere with the communion of 
the saints through the One only true Head and 
centre of union. But we do not want this earthly 
Head ; it goes to destroy this oneness of the body ; 
it separates the Church below from the Church 
above, by giving to the former a distinct head of 
union on earth. We believe the Body to be One 
all through the universe ; and the unseen state to 
be as real as the visible ; and both together, to 
make up this great Church Catholic, of which 
Christ alone is the Head. Thus we live, looking 
not at the things that are seen, but at the things 
that are not seen : holding communion with the 
saints departed, as well as with the saints alive ; 
with those that are absent in heaven, as well as 
those that are distant and absent on earth. 

And this feeling of the reality of this commu- 
nion helps us wonderfully in submitting to death's 
cold and dark separation. 

If we are removed from a friend on earth, we 
know ordinarily that we can find him at any time ; 
and, if we have the means, and if duty permits, 
that we can go to him ; or at any rate, that we 



224 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

can correspond with him by letter. There is — 
and we should expect in that dispensation that 
has brought life and immortality to light, that 
there must be, that which is analogous to all this 
in our communion with the saints that rest. We 
always know where to find them, for they are in 
Christ. We shall go to them when duty permits, 
for we shall go when God, the Lord of duty, calls 
us ; and until we go, we can correspond ; for Jesus 
will communicate every letter of holy love we 
write, or pray, or sigh. He is (so to speak) the 
centre of our correspondence : He will communi- 
cate nothing that would break their rest, and 
every thing that would pour balm into their hearts 
and into ours. 

We must remember that earthly things and 
earthly relationships are but patterns of heavenly 
things and heavenly relationships. All that there 
is of a blessed character here? has its perfect cor- 
relative there; and if the body be, therefore, as we 
believe it to be, One; then our correspondence and 
communion with them in Him, now that they are 
gone, is the same as it was with them before their 
departure : the Body, as we have observed above, 
is as strictly One as the Head is One. 

And this was beautifully signified by the habit 
which for a long time prevailed in the Church, 
of celebrating the Holy Communion on the death 
of any eminent saint. It figured forth the truth 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 225 

of the oneness of the body of Christ. It repeated 
to the Church the truth of its Catholic incorpora- 
tion. It told the members that dwell on earth 
that they were members with those who had 
gone to heaven. It told the quick that they were 
still one with the dead ; for they were partakers 
of one life, and that life was Christ. 1 



l This faith of the early Church is strikingly illustrated in the 
monumental inscriptions, brought to light from the recesses of the 
Catacombs at Rome. They have been uncovered to the number of 
more than three thousand, and, both Pagan and Christian, ranging 
in antiquity as far down as to the fourth century, are now placed in 
a hall of the Vatican ; and they are interesting in the contrast of the 
light of life and hope, breathed by the Christian mourner through 
the tears of surviving affection, to the darkness and despair of the 
Pagan. 

" O relentless fortune ! " writes the Roman mother in her grief for 
the loss of her child. " Thou, who delightest in cruel death, why is 
Maximus so early snatched from me ? " 

"Valeria sleeps in peace," writes the Christian mother, "borne 
away by angels on the Ides of January." " You have already," 
writes another over the infant, sealed in holy Baptism, ' begun to be 
among the innocent ones." 

The Pagan inscribes upon the tomb of his friend : " Balnea, Vi- 
num, Venus corrumpunt corpora : sed vitam faciunt." — The Chris- 
tian writes, as Placas over his wife Albana : " Jaces in pace : sapore 
merita: resurgis temporalis tibi data requetio." " Vidalio in Christo 
pace." 

The oneness of the body of Christ, the dead with the living : hope 
of life and reunion beyond the grave ; these characterize the sepul- 
chres of the early Christians: and they evidently looked through 
the days of bloody persecutions, in which so many sealed their faith 
in Christ, to that " Communion of Saints," whose full fruition could 
only be had in the " many mansions above." 
15 



226 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

Thus it is that we think of the departed as still 
living; still sharing with us a common life; and 
having that life with God, though disencumbered 
of the bodies which we bear with us : we are both 
and all in the same great temple, but they have 
passed within its veil ; we that are here are in the 
outer court, — they are in the heavenly chancel : l 
there they converse with those who seemed once 
so separated from them merely because they lived 
here long ago; but who were, in fact, all their 
lives, their companions in sympathy and hope : 
they mingle among the early saints ; they salute 
Abel, and Enoch, and Abraham, and Moses, and 
the prophets, and. the Apostles, and the saints, and 
the martyrs ; they see the mysterious form of the 
kingly Melchisedeck, and the veil is removed from 
the hidden history of Adam and Eve. In such 

1 1 am fully persuaded of this as of a necessary and infallible truth, 
that such persons as are truly sanctified in the Church of Christ, 
while they live among the crooked generations of men, and struggle 
with all the miseries of this world, have fellowship with God the 
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, dwelling with them, 
and taking up their habitations in them : that beside the external 
fellowship which they have in the Word and sacraments with all 
the members of the Church, they have an intimate union and con- 
junction with all the saints on earth as the living members of Christ : 
nor is this union separated by the death of any ; but as Christ, in 
whom we live, is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, 
so have they fellowship with all the saints which, from the death of 
Abel, have ever departed in the true faith and fear of God, and now 
enjoy the presence of the Father, and follow the Lamb whithersoever 
He goeth. — Pearson on the Creed. 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 227 

society we may feel confident they are moving, — 

where, exactly, we do not know; and it is an 
almost bewildering thought, that they who talked 
with us but a few hours ago, are now perhaps far 
beyond the stars and the sunlight; but such is the 
infinitude of the power of God, and such is the 
majesty of our destiny ! 

'As there is a perfect union," says Bishop 
Hall, ''betwixt the glorious saints in heaven, and 
a union (though imperfect) betwixt the saints on 
earth : so there is a union (partly perfect and 
partly imperfect) between the saints in heaven 
and the saints below upon earth: perfect in re- 
spect of those glorified saints above, imperfect in 
respect of the weak returns we are able to make 
them again. Let no man think, that because 
those blessed souls are out of sight, far distant in 
another world, and we are here toiling in a vale 
of tears, that we have therefore lost all mutual 
regard to each other. No, there is still, and ever 
will be, a secret but unfailing correspondence be- 
tween heaven and earth. The present happiness 
of those heavenly citizens cannot have abated 
aught of their knowledge and charity, but must 
needs have raised them to a higher pitch of both ; 
they, therefore, who are now glorious comprehen- 
sors, cannot but in a generality retain the notice 
of the sad condition of us poor travellers here 
below, panting towards our rest together with 



228 COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 

them ; and in common wish for the happy con- 
summation of this our weary pilgrimage, in the 
fruition of their glory. 

O ye blessed saints above, we honour your 
memories so far as we ought ; we do with praise 
recount your virtues; we magnify your victories; 
we bless God for your happy exemption from the 
misery of this world, and for your estate in that 
blessed immortality ; we imitate your holy exam- 
ples; we long and pray for a happy consociation 
with you; we dare not raise temples, dedicate 
altars, direct prayers to you; we dare not, finally, 
offer any thing to you which you are unwilling to 
receive, — nor put any thing upon you which you 
would disclaim as prejudicial to your Creator and 
Redeemer. It is abundant comfort to us, that 
some part of us is in the fruition of that glory 
whereto we (the other poor labouring part) desire 
and strive to aspire ; that our heads and shoulders 
are above water, whilst the other limbs are yet 
wading through the stream/' 

Therefore, with angels and archangels, and 
with all the company of heaven, we laud and 
magnify thy glorious Name ; evermore praising 
Thee, and saying, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. 
Glory be to thee, O Lord most High." 



PRAYERS 

ffor tfje use of Sfcfc persons. 1 



IN THE BEGINNING OF SICKNESS. 

O Almighty God, merciful and gracious, who 
in thy justice didst send sorrow and tears, sick- 
ness and death, into the world as a punishment 
for man's sins, and hast comprehended all under 
sin, and this sad covenant of suffering; not to 
destroy us, but that Thou mightest have mercy 
upon all, making thy justice to minister to mercy, 
short afflictions to an eternal weight of glory. As 
Thou hast turned my sins into sickness, so turn 
my sickness to the advantages of holiness and 
religion, of mercy and pardon ; of faith and hope, 

1 These few prayers, selected chiefly from the works of Jeremy 
Taylor, are here added to supply words to those who want them ; 
to direct the thoughts of the weak into a suitable channel ; and to 
excite that spirit of habitual devotion, which will send up its 
thoughts best in its own words to Him, " who heareth prayer." 



230 PRAYERS. 

of grace and glory. Thou hast now called me to 
the fellowship of sufferings : Lord, by the instru- 
ment of religion, let my present condition be so 
sanctified, that my sufferings may be united to 
the sufferings of my Lord, that so Thou mayest 
pity me and assist me. Relieve my sorrow, and 
support my spirit : direct my thoughts, and sanc- 
tify the accidents of my sickness, so that the pun- 
ishment of my sin may be the school of virtue; 
in which, since Thou hast now entered me, Lord, 
make me a holy proficient ; that I may behave 
myself as a son under discipline, humbly and 
obediently, evenly and penitently, that I may 
come by this means nearer unto Thee; that if I 
shall go forth of this sickness by the gate of life 
and health, I may return to the world with great 
strength of spirit, to run a new race of a stricter 
holiness and a more severe religion; or, if I pass 
from hence with the outlet of death, I may enter 
into the bosom of my Lord, and may feel the 
present joys of a certain hope of that sea of 
pleasures in which all thy saints and servants 
shall be comprehended to eternal ages. Grant 
this for Jesus Christ's sake, our dearest Lord and 
Saviour. Amen. 



PRAYERS. 031 



UNDER THE PRESSURE OF GREAT INFIRMITY. 

O holy Jesus, Thou art a merciful High Priest, 
and touched with the sense of our infirmities: 
Thou knowcst the sharpness of my sickness, and 
the weakness of my person. The clouds are 
gathered about me, and Thou hast covered me 
with thy storm. My understanding hath not 
such apprehension of things as formerly. Lord! 
let thy mercy support me, thy Spirit guide me, 
and lead me through the valley of this death 
safely; that I may pass it patiently, holily, with 
perfect resignation ; and let me rejoice in the 
Lord, in the hopes of pardon, in the expectation 
of glory, in the sense of thy mercies, in the 
refreshments of thy Spirit, in a victory over all 
temptations. 

Thou hast promised to be with us in tribula- 
tion. Lord ! my soul is troubled, and my body 
is weak, and my hope is in Thee, and my enemies 
are busy and mighty ; now make good thy holy 
promise. 

O take from me all tediousness of spirit : let me 
possess my soul in patience, resigning soul and 
body into thy hands as into the hands of a faith- 
ful Creator, and a blessed Redeemer. 

Lay on me no more than Thou shalt enable me 
to bear. I have deserved it all, and more, and 
infinitely more. Lord, I am weak and ignorant 



232 PRAYERS. 

timorous and inconstant, and I fear lest some- 
thing should happen that may discompose the 
state of my soul, and that may displease Thee. 
Do what Thou wilt with me, so Thou dost but 
preserve me in thy fear and favour. Thou know- 
est that it is my great fear, but let thy Spirit 
secure, that nothing may be able to separate me 
from the love of God in Jesus Christ. Then 
smite me here, that Thou mayest spare me for 
ever: and yet, O Lord, " smite me friendly," for 
Thou knowest my infirmities. Into thy hands I 
commend my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, 
O Lord, Thou God of truth. Amen. 



FOR THE GRACE OF PATIENCE. 

Thou who art the God of patience and conso- 
lation, strengthen me in the inner man, that I may 
bear the yoke and burden of the Lord without 
any uneasy and useless murmurs, and ineffective 
unwillingness. Lord, I am unable to stand under 
the cross, unable of myself; but Thou, O holy 
Jesus, who didst feel the burden of it, who didst 
sink under it, and wert pleased to admit a man 
to bear part of the load, when Thou underwentest 
all for him, — be Thou pleased to ease this load 
by fortifying my spirit, that I may be strongest 



PRAYERS. 233 

when I am weakest, and may be able to do and 
suffer every thing Thou pleasest, through Christ, 
who strengthens me. Lord, if Thou wilt support 
me, I will for ever praise Thee : if Thou wilt 
suffer the load to press me yet more heavily, I 
will cry unto Thee, and complain unto my God; 
and at last I will lie down and die, and by the 
mercies and intercession of the Holy Jesus, and 
the conduct of thy blessed Spirit, and the ministry 
of angels, pass into those mansions where holy 
souls rest and weep no more. Lord, pity me; 
Lord, sanctify this my sickness ; Lord, strengthen 
me : Holy Jesus, save me and deliver me. Thou 
knowest how shamefully I have fallen with 
pleasure ; in thy mercy and very pity, let me not 
fall with pain too. O, let me never charge God 
foolishly, nor offend Thee by my impatience and 
uneasy spirit, nor weaken the hands and hearts 
of those that charitably minister to my needs ; 
but let me pass through the valley of tears, the 
valley of the shadow of death, with safety and 
peace, with a meek spirit, and a sense of the 
Divine mercies ; and though Thou breakest me in 
pieces, my hope is, Thou wilt gather me up in the 
gatherings of eternity. Grant this, Eternal God, 
gracious Father, for the merits and intercession of 
our merciful High Priest, who once suffered for 
us, and for ever intercedes for us, our most 
gracious and ever -blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. 
A men. 



234 PRAYERS. 



FOR SUBMISSION. 



O most gracious and eternal God, Father and 
Lord of all, I confess I am unworthy of any 
favour ; I am less than the least of thy mercies ; 
yet our weakness and unworthiness cannot be 
measures of thy mercy : Thou art good and 
gracious, and delightest in showing mercy to 
them that call upon Thee, and that put their trust 
in Thee. I know, O God, that Thou lovest to 
hear our prayers, and Thou delightest in the 
humble and resigned desires of thy servants. O 
God, I humbly submit my desires, my interests, 
and all that I am or have, to thy holy will and 
pleasure ; humbly begging of Thee that I may 
cheerfully suffer, and obediently do thy will, and 
choose what Thou choosest, and observe the 
ways of thy Providence, and revere thy judg- 
ment, and wait for thy mercy, and delight in thy 
dispensation, and expect that all things shall 
work together for good to them that fear Thee. 
Oh, let thy holy Spirit for ever be present with 
me, and make me to fear Thee and to love Thee 
above all things in the world, for ever; and then 
no ill can come unto thy servant, for whosoever 
loves Thee cannot perish. 

Hear the prayer of thy servant, and relieve my 
sorrow, and sanctify my desires, and accept me 
in the Son of thy love, our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. Amen. 



PRAYERS. 235 



FOR GRACE. 

O Almighty God, Thou art the Judge of all the 
world, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Father of mercies, the Father of men and angels; 
Thou lovest not that a sinner should perish, but 
delightest in our salvation, and hast in our Lord 
Jesus Christ established the covenant of repent- 
ance, and promised pardon to all them that 
confess their sins, and forsake them. O my God, 
be pleased to work in me what Thou hast com- 
manded should be in me. Lord, I am a dry tree, 
who neither have brought forth fruit unto Thee 
and unto holiness, nor have wept out salutary 
tears, the instrument of life and restitution, but 
have behaved myself like an unconcerned person 
in the ruins and breaches of my soul ; but, O 
God, Thou art my God ; early will I seek Thee : 
my soul thirsteth for Thee in a barren and thirsty 
land, where no water is. 

Oh, let the cry of thy Son's blood, who offers 
an eternal sacrifice to Thee, speak on my behalf. 
My conscience does accuse me ; the devils rejoice 
in my fall, and aggravate my crimes, already too 
great; and thy holy Spirit is grieved by me. But 
my Saviour Jesus Christ died for me, and Thou 
pitiest me ; and thy holy Spirit still calls upon 
me, and I am willing to come; but I cannot come 
unless Thou drawest me with cords of love. Oh, 



236 PRAYERS. 

draw me unto Thee by the arguments of charity, 
by the endearments of thy mercies, by the order 
of thy Providence, by the hope of thy promises, 
by the sense of thy comforts, by the conviction of 
my understanding, by the zeal and passion of holy 
affections, by an unreproveable faith and an hum- 
ble hope, by a religious fear and an increasing 
love, by the obedience of precepts and efficacy of 
holy example, by thy power and thy wisdom, by 
the love of thy Son, and the grace of thy Spirit. 

I am not worthy, O Lord, I am not worthy to 
come into thy presence ; and where shall I appear, 
who have put my Lord to death, and crucified 
the Lord of Life ? Where should I appear but 
before my Saviour, who died for them that have 
murdered Him ; who hath loved them that hated 
Him; who is the Saviour of his enemies, and the 
life of the dead, and the redemption of captives, 
and the advocate for sinners; and alt we do need, 
and all we can desire? 

Lord, give me the grace of tears and pungent 
sorrow ; turn my sin into repentance, and let my 
repentance proceed to pardon and refreshment. 
Support me with thy graces, strengthen me with 
thy Spirit, soften my heart with the dew of 
heaven, with penitential showers. Make the re- 
maining portion of my days full of caution and 
observance, strong and resolute, patient and 
severe. 



PRAYERS. 037 

Grant that in thy wounds I may find safety; in 
thy stripes, my cure; in thy pain my peace ; in 
thy cross, my victory ; in thy resurrection, my 
triumph ; and a crown of righteousness in the 
glories of thy eternal kingdom. 



CONFORMITY OF WILL AND JOYFUL HOPE. 

Give me grace, O merciful Father, to put the 
rudder of my life into thy hands, to steer the 
course of it as seemeth Thee good ; for believing 
that Thou lovest me, and believing withal that 
Thou art wiser than I am, I needs must confess, 
that whatsoever Thou doest with me is better 
than my own choosing for myself would be : and 
by all the troubles and unhappiness of this life, en- 
able me to gain this, that when they most abound 
upon me, I may feel myself a stranger, and be- 
have as such ; and think, thereupon, with more 
delight and stronger desires on my own country, 
and the rich and sure inheritance that lies there, 
and the ease and rest I shall have when I come 
thither. O happy indeed, good Lord, are the 
stones Thou choosest to be living stones in thy 
spiritual temple, though they be hewed, and ham- 
mered, and polished for it by trials and afflictions. 
How much happier to be the meanest expectant 



238 PRAYERS. 

of the glory to come, than the sole possessor of all 
the world ! May my soul have a continual de- 
sire to go to that company which is above ; to the 
spirits of just men made perfect, to the company 
of angels, but most of all to Thee, O God, and to 
Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament ! In 
that excellent country, Thou hast told me, O Fa- 
ther, that there is light and love, and nothing else; 
that thy saints will there be happy for ever : that 
they shall die no more, shall sorrow no more, 
shall be sick no more, shall doubt no more. How 
cheerfully, then, may a Christian go through all 
the sorrows and adversities of this transitory life ! 
To Thee, O blessed Lord, I commend and com- 
mit myself, both for time and eternity, in the 
name of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

O compassionate Father, I would render unto 
Thee most humble thanks for that wonderful 
gradation of mercies shown to me in thy Son. In 
Him Thou dost offer me thy holy Spirit, and with 
it the whole golden mine of all spiritual comfort 
and good; allowing me, when wearied by the fol- 
lies and miseries of the world, to refresh my soul 
in Thee ; yea, enjoining it upon me to speak my 
mind to Thee freely, as the kindest and tenderest 
of all Fathers, with the sure confidence that, as 
Thou art withal the Lord of heaven and earth, so 
Thou wilt make all different lines always to con- 



PRAYERS. 039 

center in my highest good, how opposite soever in 
appearance now. I do humbly confess my great 
need of afflictions, — yea, of many afflictions ; 
keep me, therefore, I pray Thee, from ever prom- 
ising myself an exemption, although my present 
state be ever so free from them ; and for the 
number and weight of them, let me resign that 
altogether into thy hands, who art my wise Father 
and Physician, who knowest my mould and mal- 
adies, and what kind of chastisement is needful 
for my cure. But, merciful Father, let me never 
so wrong myself as to entertain any care at all 
but such as I may put into thy hands, and make 
thine on my behalf. May I have grace to give 
up all outward things into thy hands, referring 
the disposal of them to Thee, and that heartily 
and fully ! Even in the darkest night of sorrow, 
may I cast anchor in Thee, and repose on Thee 
when I see no light ; remembering that this is not 
my hope, nor the place of my rest, but the place 
of my trial and conflict ; and that my home is 
above. Good Lord and Father, of thine infinite 
mercy Thou hast called me to eternal glory ; save 
me, then, I pray Thee, from ever being so un- 
grateful as to repine against Thee, and so to drown 
a hundred great blessings in any little trouble that 
befalls me ; give me more deep thoughts of the 
things of the world to come; lift my eyes to that 
state that I am most nearly related to; direct my 



240 PRAYERS. 

steps to it. and lead me towards it, cheerful and 
unwearied, by an assured hope that the joyful 
day will at length come, when, as Christ's dis- 
ciple, I shall be admitted into the fullest light. 



EJACULATORY PRAYERS FOR ONE UNDER ANY SEVERE 
SUFFERING. 

Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me, for 
I am poor and in misery: help me, meekly and 
gratefully, and with perfect resignation, to bear 
the chastening of the Lord ; to feel that it comes 
from the hand of a Father, and is sent with de- 
signs of the tenderest mercy. I implore Thee to 
bring home to my heart the blessed assurance 
that Thou dost not afflict willingly nor grieve thy 
children : that Thou dost it for our profit, to make 
us partakers of thine holiness: and that Thou art 
sitting as a Refiner, watching the process, and 
wilt keep thy gold no longer in the fire than as 
Thou seest needful for the clear reflecting of thine 
image in it. 



O subdue all my unwillingness to suffer, and 
turn it into a meek and grateful acquiescence, 
that so I may glorify Thee, and show forth the 



PRAYERS. 241 

power of thy grace. O my God, I lament before 
Thee, and am most truly grieved and sorry at 
heart, that I feel so little of this divine and thank- 
ful reception of thy chastenings. I acknowledge 
and bewail this my great sinfulness, and do the 
more earnestly cry for grace and help ; for I know 
thy grace is sufficient for me, and that I can do 
and bear all things through Christ which strength- 
ened! me. Leave me not to struggle alone through 
these dark waters, but let me feel thy helping, 
supporting hand : let me hear thy sweet voice of 
tender mercy, saying, "It is I, be not afraid. " 



Who am I, that I should complain when Thou 
dost afflict me? Do I not richly deserve thy 
chastenings? Have I not every reason to expect 
them, seeing that there is no son whom the father 
chasteneth not, and that not mildly alone, but 
even "with scourges?" Thy scourges are upon 
me, O my God, and my flesh quaileth beneath 
thy strokes ; yet will I not say, " Remove thy 
heavy hand from me ; " but rather, I implore Thee 
while Thou art scourging, be also supporting; 
while Thou art wounding, be also pouring in oil 
and wine : as my sufferings abound, let my con- 
solations abound also ; and let me feel that Thou 
art very pitiful and of tender mercy. Blessed 
Father, I know that thy judgments are right, and 
16 



242 PRAYERS. 

that in very faithfulness Thou art afflicting me. 
I beseech Thee let thy merciful kindness be for 
my comfort, according to thy word unto thy ser- 
vant. 



Be not far from me while trouble is so near ; 
without Thee, my frailty cannot but fall. Un- 
less Thou sustain me, I shall faint under my 
burden. Leave me not, therefore, neither forsake 
me, Thou God of my salvation. Give me a holy 
readiness to suffer as much and as long as Thou 
pleasest. Let me say with Jesus, " Not my will, 
but thine be done." O Jesus, my Lord, and my 
God, my gracious, compassionate, loving Saviour 
— my High Priest, who art touched with the 
feelings of my infirmities, because Thou wast 
thyself made perfect through suffering, teach me 
to reckon that the sufferings of this present time 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that 
shall be revealed, and enable me even to rejoice 
in bearing in my body the marks of the Lord 
Jesus. May I joyfully suffer here with Thee, 
that I may gloriously reign with Thee hereafter. 
Let me count of this affliction that it is light, and 
but for a moment ; and let it work for me a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 



PRAYERS. 043 

O meek and suffering Lamb of God, may I 
suffer meekly like Thee. May I give my back to 
Him that smiteth me, even my righteous Father; 
and since it " pleased Him to bruise Thee," who 
" knewest no sin," O let me, who am so full of 
sin, humbly bend beneath thy chastening rod, and 
meekly bear the bruises caused by its strokes. 

Thou hast promised, blessed Saviour, that thy 
people shall indeed " drink of thy cup," and u be 
baptized with thy baptism;" and shall I turn 
away my lips from that sacred cup, and not 
rather count it all joy to share it with Thee? 
Thy holy Apostle Paul desired to know the 
fellowship of thy sufferings, and shall not I desire 
also? Shall I only desire communion in thy 
glory and thy joy, and not rather account myself 
blessed to have fellowship with thy griefs ? 



I beseech Thee, for thy Name's sake, and " to 
the praise of the glory of thy grace," bring every 
murmuring thought into a glad captivity to thy 
holy cross. Strengthen me with "all might, 
according to thy glorious power, unto all patience 
and long-suffering with joyfulness." Oh, that I 
may be a spectacle to angels and to men, of thy 
mighty power to uphold, yea, of thy glorious 
power to make me, out of these depths, raise 



244 PRAYERS. 

unto Thee not the voice of prayer alone, but also 
the song of praise ! May I glorify Thee by ex- 
hibiting all the graces of thy holy Spirit, the love 
which endureth all things, and gladly welcomes 
every instrument of communion with her Lord ; 
humility, which deems all far less than her ini- 
quities deserve ; faith, which realizes the blessed 
end and effect of suffering; and hope, which 
rejoices in the prospect of the glory that shall 
follow. 



Let the Holy Ghost the Comforter, comfort me 
in this sad hour, with the sure and certain expec- 
tation of eternal joy and endless felicity. Quicken 
my faith, that I may realize those joys which are 
at thy right hand. Oh, that my pains may be as 
blessed angels bearing me upon their wings to 
heaven, and making that " pleasant land " appear 
more exceeding pleasant in contrast with this 
great and terrible wilderness. Blessed be Thou, 
my God, who givest me such expectations, so full 
of rapture and transport. Blessed be Thou, my 
Saviour, who of thy tender mercy didst suffer and 
die to purchase for us such a glorious inheritance. 
Blessed be the Eternal Spirit, who brings these 
precious realities before our sad eyes, filling us 
with joy and peace in believing, and making us, 
mourners, to abound in hope. Accept, most mer- 



PRAYERS. 245 

ciful God, these prayers and praises; and pardon, 
comfort, sanctify, and, if it may be, relieve thy 
poor child, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 



PRAYER FOR SUBMISSION WITH JOY. 

O God, let my earnest prayer now ascend with 
acceptance before Thee through Jesus. Father, 
withhold not thy tender mercies from me, but let 
thy grace replenish my soul. Give me a very 
enlarged patience, even grace to rejoice in tribu- 
lation, however severe or long continued. Give 
me a more humbled heart, a sense of my need of 
suffering, a deeper sense of the value of suffering, 
a deeper sense of my own unworthiness, and of 
thy great goodness in refining and purifying me 
for thyself. Ah ! Lord, let me not shrink from 
thy holy discipline, or faint under thy kind re- 
bukes. Let me never be weary of thy corrections, 
or turn away with an unwilling and unthankful 
heart from the medicinal cup of affliction. En- 
grave with thine own Spirit on my heart those 
gracious words, "Whom the Lord loveth, He 
chasteneth." May every day and hour of trial 
cut the holy lines yet deeper into the substance 
of my spirit. Teach me to estimate more highly 
the value of trial as a means of glorifying Thee, 



246 PRAYERS. 

and as affording golden opportunities of showing 
my love to Thee, and exercising the graces which 
are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and honour of 
God. Let me, like a good soldier of the cross, 
rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for and with 
my Lord, and with a firm and grateful heart let 
me take and keep my appointed station, though 
in the hottest of the battle. O God, weak and 
feeble, and utterly helpless as I am in myself, I 
yet trust in Thee to make me strong in Thyself, 
and in the power of thy might ; for Thou givest 
power to the faint, and to them that have no 
might Thou increasest strength. Amen, so let it 
be to me, for Jesus Christ's sake ! to whom with 
Thee and the Holy Ghost be all praise, and 
honour, and glory, henceforth even for ever. 



SHORTER PRAYERS FOR TIMES OF TRIAL. 

O Righteous Father, and ever to be praised, 
the hour is now come that thy servant is to be 
tried. 

Behold, Father, it is fit that in this hour thy 
servant suffer something for Thee. Most ador- 
able Father, now for a short time I am to be 



PRAYERS. 247 

oppressed, afflicted, humbled, and disquieted, 
with many passions and infirmities. 

So it has been appointed by Thee; and nothing 
happens of all I suffer but that which is accord- 
ing to thy blessed will. This is a mercy Thou 
showest thy friends, that they be afflicted and 
suffer something in this world for Thee; in what 
manner and by whomsoever Thou pleasest. 

Without thy counsel and providence, nothing 
happens upon earth. It is good for me, Lord, 
that Thou hast humbled me, that so I may learn 
to obey Thee, and cast from me all pride and 
presumption of heart. Behold, beloved Father, 
I am in thy hands; behold, I bow myself under 
the rod of thy correction. 

Strike me now, and make my proud neck and 
stubborn will bend under the appointments of thy 
will. 

Make me devout and humble, that I may be 
ready to follow every beck of thy Divine plea- 
sure. 

I recommend myself, and all that belongs to 
me, into thy hands, to receive the correction Thou 
shalt think fit; for it is better for me to be 
chastised here than hereafter. Thou knowest 
what is expedient for my good, and what tribu- 
lation is necessary to purge me from the filth of 
sin. 



248 PRAYERS. 

Do with me according to thy pleasure, and 
despise not the sighs of a sinful soul. 

Thou art my God and my Deliverer : help me 
in the day of tribulation. 

When my heart is overwhelmed within me, 
lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. Why 
art thou cast down, O my soul ; and why art 
thou so disquieted within me? Hope thou in 
God : for I shall yet praise Him, who is the 
health of my countenance, and my God. 



THE END. 



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